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BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings women's golf team kicked off the 2010-2011 season in winning fashion Tuesday as it won the inaugural MSUB Yellowjacket Fall Invitational played at Briarwood Golf Course. Yellowjacket junior Kalli Stanhope (Glendive, MT, Dawson County HS) won medalist honors.
“Both teams played better today,” MSUB head men's and women's golf coach Shawn O'Brien said. “I am very pleased with our performance. I want to thank Briarwood Golf Course for letting us play there. The course is in fantastic shape.”
The Yellowjackets led wire-to-wire after carding a team score of 331 Tuesday and then dropped seven strokes Wednesday for a 324 score and a 655, 36-hole score. The Yellowjackets led by three strokes over cross-town rival, Rocky Mountain College, heading into Wednesday's play, but outshot the Battlin' Bears by 16 for the victory in the final round.
Chadron State College dropped 13 strokes from Tuesday for a 350 score in the final round and a 36-hole total of 713 to finish third. Carroll College finished fourth with a 723 score, followed by Miles Community College with an 869 total.
Stanhope carded rounds of 78 and 77 for a 155 score to earn medalist honors. It was her first medalist honors in her career, as her previous best finish had been third which she achieved multiple times. Carroll's Emily Slayton finished second, three strokes behind Stanhope with a 158 score. Yellowjacket sophomore Elizabeth Tikriti (Yakima, WA, West Valley HS) dropped four strokes from an 82 on Tuesday to finish third with a 160 score. Slayton fired a tournament-low 74 Wednesday.
“Kalli Stanhope played very solid and it's exciting she won the overall women's individual. It's always nice when we play well against good opponents such as Rocky Mountain College.”
Rocky's Lindsey Holzworth finished fourth with a 166 and teammates Linda Behmer and Katy Peterson finished tied for fifth with a 168 total.
“Our putting was the deciding factor today in why we played well,” O'Brien added. “We limited our three puts giving us some lower numbers as compared to yesterday.”
MSUB junior Lindsay Erickson (Helena, MT, Helena HS) finished seventh in her first tournament for MSUB since 2009 after carding rounds of 82 and 87 for a 169 score. Erickson spent last season at University of Montana. Freshman Melissa Saken (Peers, AB, Parkland Composite HS) finished eighth as she dropped seven strokes from the first round for a 171 score. Saken fired an 89 in the opening round and followed with an 82. Fellow freshman BreAnna Cameron (Whitefish, MT, Whitefish HS) finished with a 177 score and tied for 13th.
Individually, junior Erin Heaney (Anaconda, MT, Anaconda HS) finished tied for 11th with a 175 score (89-86). Fellow junior Libby Rutz tallied a pair of 90s and finished 16th. Billings natives, Kenzie White (Billings, MT, Central HS) and Yamamoto (Billings, MT, Senior HS), finished 20th and 26th, respectively. White finished 20th with a 186 score (90-96), while Yamamoto finished 26th with a 197 score and fellow freshman Cierra Myers was 30th with a 213 score.
On the men's side, Rocky won the tournament wire-to-wire with an impressive rounds of 307 and 305 for a 612 score. MSUB, sitting in third behind Carroll heading into Wednesday's round, made up a nine strokes on the Fighting Saints, carding a 309 Wednesday to take second place with a 626 score. Carroll was third with a 631 score after rounds of 308 and 323.
Rocky led Carroll by one stroke heading into the final round.
Rocky's second team was fourth with a 688 score, followed by University of Great Falls (691) and Miles Community College (706).
Rocky's Mike Noreen took home medalist honors after firing a tournament-low 73 Wednesday to go along with a 76 for a 149 score. Teammate Connor Rakowski was second with a 152 score (74-78).
There was a three-way tie for third between MSUB's Jake Letman and Carroll's Ben Ternes and Ben McIsaac. Letman fired rounds of 78 and 77 for a 155 score in his first tournament as a Yellowjacket. McIsaac fired a 74 Tuesday, but came back with an 81 Wednesday to fall out of a tie for first.
MSUB's lone senior, Travis Gates (Billings, MT, West HS), finished tied for sixth with a pair of 78s. Junior Kyle Armstrong (Buffalo, WY, Buffalo HS) carded rounds of 81 and 77 for a 158 score and he tied for ninth. Freshman Brad Harrelson (Snoqualmie, WA, Mount Si HS) dropped the most strokes of any Yellowjacket from the first to the second round as he opened with an 84 and finished with a 77 for a 161 score and a 14th place finish. Fellow freshman, Mac Keating (Billings, MT, West HS), shot rounds of 80 and 83 finishing 15th.
Individually, MSUB's Chris Rasmussen (Lander, WY, Lander Valley HS) finished 29th with a 181 score.
“Our freshmen played well today,” O'Brien said. “Although Brad Harrelson shot 77, he played much better than his score. He hit a high percentage of greens in regulation and putted well. I am excited for our next tournament as we will only become better as the year continues.”
The Yellowajcket women return to action Sept. 19-21 at the Mesa State Invitational in Grand Junction, Colo., while the men's team heads to Washington for the Saint Martin's Invitational and the Western Washington Invitational beginning Sept. 23.
