Oct. 17, 2000

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - After carding the lowest 18-hole team score in school history on Monday, the Illinois women's golf team shattered the 54-hole team tournament total today by shooting a 300 in the final round of the UALR Lady Trojan Invitational. The 297 strokes the Illini shot in the opening round at the 6,080-yard, 72-par Stone Links Golf Club was the first team score lower than 300 ever recorded by the Illini women's team. Illinois finished the tournament with a team total of 901 strokes, which breaks the team record of 916 shot in the ISU Redbird Classic in 1992.

The Illini tied for fifth place in the 18-team tournament. Sophomore Laurin Kanda became the third member of the Illinois squad (Cheney, Young) to shoot her first career round of 1-under par. With the 71 she recorded in the final round, Kanda tied for sixth place. The 220 strokes carded by Kanda (72-77-71) tie her with Renee Heiken for the sixth best score ever recorded by an Illinois women's golfer in a 54-hole tournament.

Sophomore Carmel Sielicki recorded her highest finish as an Illini as she tied for 27th place with a tournament total of 226 strokes. Renata Young came in next for Illinois. The Arkansas-native tied for 34th with a 228. Stephanie Cheney carded a 230 to tie for 39th. Newcomer Michelle Carroll shot a 76 in the final round to finish the tournament with 237 strokes. She tied for 63rd.

"I'm very excited for the team," head coach Paula Smith said. "They practiced hard, and they deserved to break the records. We're all eager to play again next week."

The Illini will try to continue on their record-setting pace as they tee up for their final tournament of the fall season Oct. 23-24 in Tampa, Fla.

Team Scores 
1.    Oklahoma                292-293-289=874
2.    Arkansas State          293-296-298=887
3.    North Texas             297-301-296=894
4     Arkansas-Little Rock    300-295-301=896
5.    Illinois                297-304-300=901
      Southern Illinois       295-309-297=901
7.    Bradley                 295-306-306=907
8.    New Orleans             300-308-300=908
9.    Sam Houston State       308-305-298=911
10.   Troy State              300-308-304=912
11.   Iowa                    300-306-310=916
(T)   Jacksonville State      300-319-297=916
13.   Lamar                   318-304-310=932
14.   Texas-El Paso           315-314-306-935
15.   Murray State            308-315-314=937
16.   Oral Roberts            317-319-312=939
17.   McNeese State           321-326-322=969
(T)   Texas-Pan American      317-323-329=969

Illinois Individuals
T6    Laurin Kanda         72-77-71=220
T27    Carmel Sielicki     75-76-75=226
T34    Renata Young        79-71-78=228
T39    Stephanie Cheney    71-80-79=230
T63    Michelle Carroll	   81-80-76=237