Ball State Women’s Golf travelled back to Boulder Creek Monday to take part in the Jackrabbit Invitational. 

The Cardinals took eighth place through 54 holes over Monday and Tuesday. Ball State started out a bit rocky, as the team tallied a 310 and a 324 in the first two rounds.  

Despite the final round harboring the team’s best score of the tournament, the Cardinals were unable to make any ground Tuesday. 

“We fought hard throughout the event, and we had some good individual rounds,” head coach Katherine Mowat said. “It was nice, as a team, to end with our best round today.” 

A team score of 310 in the final round was not enough to move up in the rankings. In fact, almost all of the 14 teams improved scores on Tuesday. 

“I think there was less wind today, and it rained this morning,” Mowat said. “Conditions were a little more generous today, and we tried to take advantage and post our best team round of the event.” 

Junior Tiegan Taylor was on the top of her game Monday, as she set the pace for Ball State early. Despite falling off a bit in the individual standings in the final round, her individual leadership led the Cardinals into the second day, only 11 shots away from a top-five team standing. 

“It was wonderful to see her play as well as she did yesterday,” Mowat said. “We see, yet again, just how deep our team is … Any given person in our lineup can contribute and can fill that No. 1 spot in any given round.” 

Taylor finished the tournament tied for 23rd at 20 over par. 

Filling her shoes Tuesday was senior Manon Tounalom, who was able to jump up three spots to finish tied for 21st individually. Tounalom improved by five strokes from the first round to the last.  

“I think my game got better and better,” Tounalom said. 

Despite leading the pack for Ball State throughout the spring, it was not junior Liz Kim’s tournament. She finished at the bottom of the Cardinals’ scoreboard and tied for 49th individually. 

Host school South Dakota State dominated the course both days to finish with a 14-stroke victory over second-place Boston College.  

With the busy travel schedule of the spring, the Cardinals will now have a three-week break before the EKU Colonel Classic at the end of the month. This will pose as a recharging time for assessment and adjustments before the final stretch of the spring. 

“We will definitely work on our weaknesses,” Tounalom said. “[We will] look at our stats and see what we did well and what we did not do so well.” 

Contact Drew Pierce with comments at dlpierce2@bsu.edu or on Twitter @dpierce3cc. 

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