Greensboro, N.C. – Spurred by a school-record low opening round of 10-under par 278, the Western Carolina women's golf team sits atop the leaderboard at the Aggie Invitational with a 33-stroke lead over the field entering Tuesday's final round at the par-72 Bryan Park Champions Course.
The Catamounts carded a two-round score of 564 to lead second-place Appalachian State (597) with Alabama State (598), tournament-host North Carolina A&T (614), and Elon (624) rounding out the field. Elon won last year's championship in the match-play format.
WCU's morning round of 278 is five strokes better than the previous school benchmark of 283 carded at the Great Smokies Intercollegiate hosted at the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort & Spa back in the fall of 2013. The Catamounts saw three golfers shoot 3-under par 69 with the fourth counting score at 1-under par 71. The second-round score of 286 ranks tied for the seventh-best in program history.
"I am so proud of this team. Every time we play, it's a total team effort and you never know who the top scorer will be. They work together and fight as a team and to see them come together today and to put together two great rounds was very impressive," said WCU head coach
Courtney Gunter. "We still have one more round to go low and see what we can do."
Through Monday's play, each member of WCU's scoring five ranks inside the individual Top 10 entering the final round with both of its individual competitors within the Top 12. Senior and Greensboro, N.C., native
Madison Isaacson and her sophomore teammate
Elizabeth Lohbauer posted matching scores of 3-under par 69 and 2-under par 70 for identical 36-hole scores of 139 to sit tied atop the individual leaderboard. The first-round scores of 69 represent career lows for both the Catamount strikers.
True freshman
Brie Mapanao likewise improved upon her best career round, shooting 1-under 71 and even-par 72 for a two-round score of 143 to sit alone in third place, just four strokes off the pace. Redshirt freshman
Kayleigh Baker also carded her best round as a Catamount, shooting 3-under par 69 to sit tied with Lohbauer and Isaacson for first after the opening 18 holes before sliding into fourth after two rounds, six strokes off the pace.
Rounding out WCU's scoring five is another Greensboro, N.C., product in
Victoria Ladd who posted consecutive rounds of 2-over par 74 to sit in a tie for seventh-place overall.
Playing unattached as an individual, Canadian-born sophomore
Kaitlyn Wingnean is in sixth place with a two-round score of 147, shooting a season-best even-par round 72 and a 3-over round of 75. Making her collegiate debut, freshman
Sadler Miller sits tied for 12th at 6-over par 150. A product of Clayton, N.C., Miller shot 77 in her first round before knocking four strokes off in the second for a 1-over round of 73.
The final round is scheduled for Tuesday morning. Complete results and a recap of the squad's second event of the season will be made available after the conclusion of play.
1 – Western Carolina – 278 – 286 = 564 (-12)
T1 –
Elizabeth Lohbauer – 69-70 = 139 (-5)
T1 –
Madison Isaacson – 69-70 = 139 (-5)
3 –
Brie Mapanao – 71-72 = 143 (-1)
4 –
Kayleigh Baker – 69-76 = 145 (+1)
T7 –
Victoria Ladd – 74-74 = 148 (+4)
6 –
Kaitlyn Wingnean (ind.) – 72-75 = 147 (+3)
T12 –
Sadler Miller (ind.) – 77-73 = 150 (+6)
