Janiga wins Fighting Camel Fall Classic, Mercer finishes fourth
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Mercer University freshman Mary Augusta Janiga had one of the best tournaments in the history of Campbell University’s Fighting Camel Fall Classic to lead the women’s golf team to a fourth-place finish at the Keith Hills Country Club’s Orange and Black Course.
Janiga became just the second player in the tournament’s 21-year history to finish the event under par, carding a tournament-best 2-under-par 70 on the final 18 holes of play to seal her first collegiate medalist honor. The freshman led from start to finish at the Fighting Camel Fall Classic, totaling 15 birdies on the week to claim the Bears’ first medalist honor since Katy Harris won the 2014 Forest Oaks Fall Classic.
Mercer knocked three shots off its score for the second straight round, finishing with a 19-over-par 307 on Tuesday. However, the Bears slipped to fourth on the team leaderboard, closing the event with the three-round total of 930. Host Campbell won the event, while Old Dominion and Northern Arizona rounded out the top three.
The Bears ranked second among the 15-team field with 26 birdies, behind Janiga’s tournament-best 15. Payton Schanen also ranked among the leaders with six for the week, while Meredith Owen, playing as an individual, added four.
Schanen climbed another six spots to move up 19 places after the opening round and end the tournament in a tie for 16th. The freshman finished 17-over for the tournament and now has a top-20 finish in all four of her collegiate tournaments.
Western Carolina finishes eighth at Fighting Camel Fall Classic
BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Matching her second-round score of 4-over-par 76 on Tuesday, senior Mariah Hopkins led the Western Carolina women’s golf team with a 10th-place individual finish. Hopkins guided the Catamounts home in eighth place overall at the Fighting Camel Fall Classic, hosted at the par-72, 6,050-yard Orange & Black Course at the Keith Hills Golf Club.
WCU seniors Hopkins and Kim Mitchell both recorded top-20 showings to pace the Catamounts in their final event of the fall season.
Sitting at 6-over-par with five holes to play, Hopkins finished strong with a trio of pars and consecutive birdies on the par-3 third and par-4 fourth to drop back to 4-over for the round. The Greensboro, N.C., native’s three-day total of 230 was tied for the fourth-best 54-hole score in her career.
Like her classmate, Mitchell also matched her second-round score over the final 18 holes, coming home with an 8-over-par 80 for a three-round tally of 234 to finish tied for 20th.
Freshman Maddi Caldwell carded a tournament-best two eagles on Tuesday en route to recording her best round of the tournament with a 5-over-par 77. The Dawsonville, Ga., native advanced four positions on the final day to finish tied for 39th with a three-day tally of 238.
Rounding out WCU’s scoring five were junior Bethany Galloway and freshman Natalia Villavicencio, both tied for 58th overall with matching scores of 246.
Playing unattached as an individual, WCU junior Ashley Thompson slipped six spots in the final standings with a final-round 89, finishing tied for 73rd at 257.
The Catamounts are slated to return to action in the spring semester, traveling to Orlando, Fla., in early February for the UCF Challenge. The 54-hole event will be played at the Eagle Creek Country Club on Feb. 7-9, 2016.
Wofford ties for third at Terrier Intercollegiate
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Wofford women’s golf team held its ground in the final round of the Terrier Intercollegiate, finishing in a tie for third place with a 36-hole team score of 39-over-par 615 Tuesday at The Country Club of Spartanburg.
Maegan Higgins headed the Terriers, posting her best finish of the season, sixth place. The senior followed up her Monday round of 2-over 74 with a final-round 4-over 76. Higgins took advantage of the par 5s on her way in, birdieing the 489-yard 15th and 462-yard 17th to finish in the top 10. It marks her third career top-10 in the Terrier Intercollegiate, as she finished fifth as a sophomore in 2013 and eighth in 2012.
The Terriers entered the round tied for third and finished tied for third with Gardner-Webb. Winthrop shot an impressive round of 8-over 296 to climb to second at 30-over-par 606. However, no team got within striking distance of Kennesaw State, which won the tournament by 16 shots. The Owls carded the best team score of the day to pad their lead, shooting a 4-over 292 to finish at 14-over-par 590.
Kennesaw’s Laura Estefenn was the individual medalist by one stroke over teammate Dulcie Sverdloff. Estefenn posted the only under-par round of the tournament Tuesday of 1-under 71 to claim the title with a winning total of 1-over-par 145. Another Owl, Charlotte Charrayre, finished third.
Katy Funk shot Wofford’s low round of the tournament. The junior product of Spartanburg High drained birdies on the par-3 eighth and par-4 12th and closed out with nine straight pars for a 1-over 73. Funk climbed 17 spots on the leaderboard to finish the tournament in 13th at 10-over-par 154.
Sophomore Nicole Chin (+11) and senior Emiley Pagrabs (+13) finished inside the top 20 in the 62-player field. Sophomore Lela Oakley (+16) rounded out Wofford’s team competitors in 27th.
Freshman Rebeca Maruri (+18), sophomore Allyson Markiewicz (+19) and freshman Page Morehead (+25) competed as individuals.
The Terrier Intercollegiate concludes Wofford’s fall season. The Terriers return to action in February for the spring season.
The Citadel finishes 11th at Terrier Intercollegiate
SPARTANBURG, S.C. – The Citadel women’s golf team finished up play at the Terrier Intercollegiate on Tuesday in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The team finished 11th.
Cameron Little led the Bulldogs, shooting an 84 in the final round to finish plus-22 for the tournament and tied for 39th. Marina Grimal recorded an 85 and finished just one stroke behind Little for the tournament. The freshman finished tied for 41st and was plus-23. Renata Sucha carded an 82 in round two and finished plus-26. After playing 36 holes, Sucha finished tied for 47th. Laura Simpson finished the day with a 106 and placed 56th.
With the completion of the Terrier Intercollegiate, The Citadel is done for the fall and will have a break until the spring season begins. The spring schedule will be released at a later date.
Chattanooga finishes third at Cardinal Cup
SIMPSONVILLE, Ky. – The Chattanooga Mocs women’s golf team surged to a third-place finish at the Cardinal Cup. Chattanooga’s 6-over par 294 matched host Louisville for the top-final round tally.
That moved the Mocs six spots up the leaderboard after starting the day tied for ninth with Columbia.
There were several key wins along the way. The Mocs, ranked No. 68 entering the event by Golfstat, beat five teams ranked ahead of them, including No. 26 East Carolina, No. 30 Notre Dame, No. 41 Illinois, No. 51 Indiana and No. 66 Virginia Tech.
Emily McLennan and Megan Woods paced Tuesday’s strong effort. McLennan fired a 70, which matched the field’s low card of the day. Woods was one behind at 71. That propelled McLennan into the top 10, as she tied for sixth at 220, while Woods posted the best tourney finish of her career, tying for 14th at 222.
Isabella Loza made it three in the top 20, tying for 19th at 224. Monica San Juan and Cris Perez ended up at 236.
No. 19 Louisville captured the title, shooting 878. Florida State was second at 889 ahead of Chattanooga, Wisconsin (896) and Virginia Tech (897). Wisconsin’s Brooke Ferrell and Columbia’s Jacqueline Chulya tied for medalist at -3 (213).
The Mocs return to action this Sunday at the Palmetto Intercollegiate. The three-day, 54-hole event is played at Turtle Point Golf Club in Kiawah Island, S.C.