Over the weekend, Saint Mary’s golf traveled to Ironwood Golf Course in Normal, Illinois, to compete in the Illinois Wesleyan Fall Classic. The Belles finished in sixth place out of the 19 teams at the event.
Saint Mary’s best performance at the Classic belonged to Melanie Maier. The sophomore shot 11 over par in the two-round event. In the first round, Maier shot a 79, which placed her 35th on the individual leaderboard. A strong day two performance allowed her to climb 17 spots and finish tied for 18th overall.
Senior Julia Lizak headlined the first round. Lizak shot two birdies on the day, one on a 445-yard par five and one on a 360-yard par four. Ultimately, she finished with a 38 on both the front and back nine, for a total score of 76. However, Lizak did not compete in round two.
Overall, the team finished +27 on day one and sat in seventh place on the team leaderboards. Senior Amanda Melling shot a 36 on the back nine, which propelled her to a total of 78 on the day. Senior Breana Harrington also contributed to the day one score with a total of 82.
Heading into the second round, the Belles were aiming for a solid performance to keep climbing up the team leaderboard. Maier helped them do just that with three birdies and a round total of 76. Her birdies came on a 474-yard par five, a 140-yard par three and a 446-yard par five.
Melling (80), Harrington (81) and junior Collen Hand (83) rounded out the day two scorecard for a total of +32. The Belles climbed one spot on the leaderboards to finish in the top six for the event.
Saint Mary’s had multiple notable performances: Maier at T18, Melling at T30, Harrington at T49 and Hand at T76. Additionally, freshman Katharine Swain finished her second collegiate event, shooting a total of 171 over the two rounds.
Illinois Wesleyan ended up winning the event on its home course. The Titans had four players finish within the top 10 on the individual leaderboards and were 19 over par as a team. Sophomore Gigi Zera led the team, carding a 146 for the event.
Becky Williams, a senior from DePauw University, topped the individual leaderboard, shooting five under par. In round one, she finished even. Round two was even better for her as a nine-birdie performance, including seven in the back nine, allowed her to be the sole player in the event to finish under par. Her teammate, freshman Daisy Williams, led the leaderboard after round one and finished in second place after round two. The two’s performances led DePauw to a second-place finish.
After their performance at Ironwood and a top two finish earlier in the year, the Belles have high hopes for the remainder of the season. They will next travel to Thornapple Pointe Golf Course in Grand Rapids, Michigan, for their first conference jamboree within the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association (MIAA) on Monday, Sept. 22.
