VENTURA, Calif. – The University of Redlands Women's Golf team remains in third place after the second round at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships despite shooting a 287 and posting a 586 two-round score, both of which sit inside the Top-10 in program history. They currently find themselves 16 strokes behind the leader No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (CMS), but only six strokes out of second place held by No. 6 Pomona-Pitzer (P-P).
The Bulldogs shot a very respectable 299 first round Sunday, which was better than each of their two rounds at SCIAC No. 2, but they still sat in third. The 299 is not a record score but still placed in between their two best and two worst rounds at the SCIAC tournaments coming into the championships.
Their 287, though, is the second lowest single team round in program history. Their 586 two-round total is tied for the fourth lowest two-round score. So, despite a disappointing third place position, the Bulldogs have one of their best tournament starts in program history, the problem is that CMS and P-P have been on fire.
For reference, the 570 the Athenas shot is a new program record (courtesy of cmsathletics.org) and CMS' score and the 580 shot by the Sagehens would rank second and third in Bulldog history, six strokes behind the Bulldog record of 564 set at the California State Intercollegiate last September, so each team is playing well above average expectations.
The overall conference standings, which includes SCIAC No. 1, SCIAC No. 2, and the two rounds played at the SCIAC Championships, have the Bulldogs holding a 10-stroke lead on Pomona-Pitzer and a 21-stroke lead on Claremont-M-S despite giving up six strokes to the Sagehens and 16 to the Athenas through two rounds.
After one round Hannah Jugar (Chula Vista, CA) was in a tie for first place after a 71, but with a 74 today she is now tied for fifth with a total of 145. The highest individual for the Maroon and Grey is Iris Liu (Diamond Bar, CA) who moved up the second most spots, five, into second place after shooting a new career-low 67, bringing her two-round total to 140 (73-67).
Liu's 67 is notable as she now sits in a tie for the third lowest single round score in program history and moves into a tie, with teammate Jugar, for third among the top performers' scores. It is a welcome sight for Redlands as her junior season has been up and down and seen her ranking slip to No. 50 in the country by Golfstat despite being a two-time All-American in her first two collegiate seasons. A late season resurgence from Liu has put the Bulldogs in a great position to win their first NCAA Division III National Championship.
The other three Bulldog golfers who scored included No. 12 Kendall Nicholson (Bellevue, WA) who also made a big improvement, advancing two spots thanks to a five-stroke improvement down to 72 (149). First-year No. 73 Jizelle Robledo (La Habra, CA) matched Liu by moving up five spots into a tie for 19th after a second round 74 after posting an 80 (154) yesterday. No. 17 Andrea York (Oakdale, CA) sits in 21st with a two-round 155 (78-77). As one of the best golfers in the country she will look to close the championships strong tomorrow to help the Bulldogs catch the Sagehens and Claremont-M-S.
The Bulldogs' first tee time tomorrow for Round 3 at Olivas Links Golf Club will be at 8:20 a.m. as York will be in the sixth group looking to get her team off on the right foot.