Kitahiroshima, Japan – Battling through windy conditions for a second-consecutive day in Hokkaido – the northernmost of the Japanese islands – the Western Carolina women's golf team put the finishing touches on the program's first international competition, advancing one position to come home fourth overall at the Pan Pacific Collegiate Golf Super League event held at the Sapporo Regent Golf Club.
 
WCU finished with a three-round score of 901, carding team rounds of 306, 294, and 301 over the season-opening 54-hole tournament. For the Catamounts, the top 10 finish was the 14th consecutive for the program dating back to the spring of 2022 and includes nine Top Five showings.
 
Two Catamounts recorded top 15 finishes as junior Elizabeth Lohbauer and sophomore Brie Mapanao finished a five-way tie for 15th place at 9-over par 225. Mapanao shot 3-over 75 with Lohbauer posting a final-round 4-over par 76 on Friday. Fifth-year senior Victoria Ladd recorded the squad's best final-round score at 1-over par to rally four positions over the final 18 holes to post a 20th-place finish with tally of 226.
 
Rounding out WCU's scoring five in the season-opening event was junior Kaitlyn Wingnean in 27th overall at 231 and redshirt junior Kayleigh Baker, who fired her second-best round of the event over the final 18 holes at 5-over par 77 to finish 35th with a score of 235.
 
Hitomi Koriyama of Tohoku Fukushi University finished with a three-round score of 211 (71-72-68) to claim individual medalist honors by two strokes over a two-way tie for second between teammate Suzu Shimada and Mami Naito of Tokai University Kyushu with matching scores of 213.
 
Tohoku Fukushi University rallied from a third-place standing entering the final round to win the team championship by nine strokes over runner-up Fukui University of Technology.
 
The Catamounts return stateside for an extended break after the match-play event in Greensboro hosted by North Carolina A&T was canceled. WCU's next competition is the Jupiter Women's Invitational, Oct. 9-10 at the Jonathan's Landing Golf Course hosted by Florida Atlantic in Jupiter, Fla. The squad returns to the Sunshine State as the event's defending champion as WCU put four of its scoring five inside the individual Top 10 in recording the seven-stroke victory over Florida Gulf Coast.
 
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Pan Pacific Collegiate Golf Super League
1 – Tohoku Fukushi Univ. – 293 – 302 – 286 = 881
2 – Fukui Univ. of Technology – 290 – 304 – 296 = 890
3 – Chubu Gakuin Univ. – 293 – 300 – 299 = 892
4 – Western Carolina Univ. – 306 – 294 – 301 = 901
5 – Korea Mixed Team – 296 – 301 – 305 = 902
6 – Chukyo Univ. – 298 – 310 – 295 = 903
7 – Tokai Univ. Kyushu – 297 – 307 – 302 = 906
8 – Nihon Univ. – 303 – 305 – 312 = 920
9 – Hawaii Pacific Univ. – 312 – 320 – 323 = 955
10 – Shenzhen Univ. – 317 – 327 – 322 = 966
11 – Komazawa Univ. – 319 – 333 – 320 = 972
12 – Chulalongkorn Univ. – 340 – 360 – 353 = 1,053
13 – Hokkaido Mixed Team – 351 – 358 – 361 = 1,070
 
4 – Western Carolina – 306 – 294 – 301 = 901
T15 – Elizabeth Lohbauer – 77 – 72 = 76 = 225
T15 – Brie Mapanao – 77 – 73 – 75 = 225
20 – Victoria Ladd – 77 – 76 – 73 = 226
27 – Kaitlyn Wingnean – 76 – 73 – 82 = 231
35 – Kayleigh Baker – 76 – 82 – 77 = 235