The Wayne State College women’s golf team traveled to compete in the Vegas Warriors Invitational held at the Wildhorse Golf Club in Las Vegas, Nevada from Friday, March 14 to Saturday, March 15 and claimed first place with a team score of 604.
The Wildcats finished +44 for the tournament, more than 20 strokes better than any other team. The team score of 604 is also the lowest total of the season and the +44 finish is the second-lowest team score to par at any event in school history.
As a team, WSC finished with the second lowest score on par 3s with a +22 and recorded the best scores on par 4s and par 5s with +46 and +4 respectively. The Wildcats also finished on top in total pars made with 90 and in birdies with 23, eight more than any other team.
Individually, senior Abbigail Brodersen finished in second place out of 45 golfers with rounds of 72 and 75 to finish +7 for the tournament, just one stroke behind the first-place finisher. This marks the second time this season Brodersen finished as a tournament’s runner-up, the other being in October at the Sioux Falls Invite.
Brodersen finished with the best individual score on par 4s with a +4 and finished tied for second best, along with her teammate Camryn Johnson, on par 5s with a remarkable -1. Brodersen also finished with the most birdies on the tournament with eight.
For her efforts, Brodersen was named the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference’s Women’s Golfer of the Week on Wednesday, March 19. This marks the second time a Wildcat golfer has won the award this season, with junior Saffire Sayre winning the award the week prior.
Other top Wildcat finishers included Gaia Stancikova placing third with a +10 score and she also finished tied with the most individual pars on the tournament with 23. She was a top three finisher on par 4s with a +7 mark on such holes and a top five finisher on par 3s.
Johnson finished tied for eighth overall at +17. Sayre and Erica Lee both finished tied at 11th with a score of +19. Those three golfers all tied to finish fifth in most birdies on the event with four apiece.
Hailey Kenkel solely competed individually and placed 25th after a strong second round placed her at +28 and was the top Wildcat performer on par 3s with a mark of +1.
The Wildcat team has set a new season-low total in every tournament they’ve competed at this season. They started off scoring a 650 in the first meet of the fall season, giving this group a net improvement of 46 strokes.
The next meet for WSC is set to take place from Monday, March 31 to Tuesday, Apr. 1 at Paradise Point Golf Club in Smithville, Missouri for the NSIC Preview.
