Coon Rapids, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s golf team sits tied for fourth at the MIAC Championships after Saturday’s opening round at Bunker Hills Golf Club. The Gusties turned in a score of 320 (+32) for the day to tie with St. Thomas and are in a group of five teams within three shots of the lead, which is held by Saint Benedict.
Behind Saint Benedict is a log jam in the top five, which includes Gustavus and St. Thomas in the tie for fourth. One shot in front of the Gusties and Tommies is St. Olaf in third place just two shots off the lead after totaling 319 strokes (+31) on the day. Sitting second is Carleton with a 318 (+30), just one shot behind Saint Benedict.
Lauren Johnson (Jr., Plymouth, Minn.) led the way for the Gusties on day one. Johnson carded a three-over-par 75 and is currently tied for second on the individual leaderboard. She is tied with Erin Dingmann of St. Thomas and sits two shots behind the leader, Bridget Cummings of Saint Benedict.
Sam Falk (Jr., Glenwood, Minn.) was the only other Gustie to finish inside the top 10 in the opening round. Falk shot a seven-over 79 to rank tied for seventh with three other players: Nadia Baka of St. Olaf, Kelsey Moede of Carleton, and Doyle O’Brien of St. Thomas.
Rounding out the Gustie lineup was Liz Strom (Jr., Fargo, N.D.) with a nine-over-par 81 (t-16th), Jordan Drenttel (Jr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) with a 13-over-par 85 (t-30th), and Mae Meierhenry (Fy., Sioux Falls, Minn.) with a 14-over-par 86 (t-33rd).
“We put ourselves in a good position shooting 320 today,” mentioned Head Coach Scott Moe. “I think we left a few shots out there, but all in all it was a good day for the gals. Lauren and Sam set the pace as our first two golfers out, which was great to see out of them. We will look for another good round tomorrow.”
The Gusties will tee off at 12:08 p.m. tomorrow afternoon in the second round of the tournament at Bunker Hills.
The MIAC has an event page featuring all the links and information to follow the action throughout the tournament. The conference, with the help of its teams, will provide scoring updates online during each round and those links will be available Saturday. Following the conclusion of each round, the event page will feature results, recaps and multimedia coverage of the championships, as well as updated pairings and tee times for subsequent rounds
Fans can also connect to the conference throughout the event on social media. The MIAC welcomes fans, coaches and student-athletes to share photos from the event on Facebook and Twitter, and to use the hashtag #MIACgolf on all championship-related tweets.