BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State University Billings men's and women's golf teams hit the road this week to compete in the Concordia Invitational.
 
The women's tournament is scheduled for one round each on Monday and Tuesday at Riverside Country Club, on the par-72, 5,713-yard course.On the men's side, 36 holes are scheduled for Monday with a final round of 18 set for Tuesday on a par-72, 6,823-yard layout of Columbia Edgewater Country Club.
 
The Yellowjacket women will look to get off to a strong start, after posting a team scoring average of 334.0 strokes through six rounds and three events during the fall season.   
 
"Our women's team have struggled so far this season," said head coach Jeff Allen. "Golf is tough and when it's not going your way it can really wear you down. The team is due to play some good golf and I am confident that will happen this week.  We have had some good opportunities to get better and now we need to put that in place. Riverside Country Club is a totally new course for our team so it will be important for us to get a lot of work done during the practice rounds to try to figure out the course as quick as possible.  We have a lot of talent on this team and I think they will show that this week.   
 
Sophomore Avery Gill is leading the team this the fall, posting a scoring average of 82.8 strokes per round while competing in all three events. Fellow sophomore Tierney Messmer is close behind close behind with a mark of 83.8 on the fall, and posted her season best two-round mark of 165 last week at the Dixie State Invitational.
 
Kinsey Irvin carries a scoring average of 84.8 through six rounds in the fall season. Junior Renae Heisler is averaging 86.0 and Sydney Rochford less than a stroke behind Heisler, averaging 86.3 per round. Both players have played in all three events this fall. 
 
The MSUB men's team last played at the Western Washington Invite, September 23-24 and finished 15^th as a team. 
 
"I am really looking forward to seeing our men compete at this event," remarked Allen. "We learned a lot from our first two tournaments in Washington. We had flashes of good play from all our players, we just couldn't quite out together the team scores we need to compete. It's a very fine line at this level and I think the guys realized how close they were to putting up a good team score. Columbia Edgewater is arguably the best course out men will play all year and they are very motived by that. Four of our five guys have played this event before so we are familiar with how it plays. Our upperclassmen are playing well right now, it is just about putting it all together when it counts. 
 
Caleb Trost was the top finisher for the Yellowjackets shooting a three round total of 217 (70-75-72).  Trost currently leads the team with a 74.5 round average through six rounds of play. 
 
Close behind Trost is senior Garrett Woodin averaging 74.7 through six rounds. Riley Lawrence is averaging 75.7 followed by a fraction by Payton Stott at 75.8.  Paul O'Neil rounds out the top five averaging 77.8. 
 
This week's event is the final road trip for the women's team. The men face one more road trip as will compete in the Chico Wildcat Classic on October 14-15 in Chico, California. Both teams will close out the fall playing in Billings, MT. The Women will be playing in the Leslie Spalding Cup and the men in the Mike Grob Cup.