COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho – The No. 23 Fighting Illini women's golf team earned their first tournament win on Tuesday at the Coeur D'Alene Collegiate Resort in Coeur D'Alene, Idaho. A year after placing second in the tournament, the Orange and Blue posted a two-day team total of 852 (E) to finish with the eighth lowest 54-hole tournament team score in program history.
"After a solid day yesterday, we are excited to put ourselves in such a great position going into today's round," said head coach Renee Slone. "This is definitely a nice boost of confidence and something to build off of going into the rest of our fall tournaments."
Atop of the leaderboard the entire time, the Illini made the record books, posting the third lowest single-round score with a 6-under-par in the second round. As a team, Illinois (E) finished 5 strokes ahead of No. 16 San Jose State (+5) in second and 19 ahead of Idaho (+19), who finished third. The orange and blue also posted 52 birdies, the most amongst the field.
Individually, three out of the five Illini finished in the top 10. Freshman Crystal Wang lead the individual field for the majority of the second round, tying for second with California's Katherine Zhu in a closely contested race for the top spot. San Jose State's Abegail Arevalo (211/-2) earned the individual crown, while Wang's second-place finish (212/-1) is her first top three-finish in her collegiate career.
"It was great for her to be put in that position in only her second collegiate tournament," noted Slone. "This provided for a great learning opportunity and will give her a huge boost of confidence going forward."
Senior Bing Singhsumalee tied for fifth, recording 214 (+1). Steady for both days, sophomore Ali Morallos tied for eighth, posting a 215 (+2). This marks her third top-10 finish of her career and highest finish since last season's MountainView Collegiate, where she ended the three-round tournament tied for fifth place (217/+1).
Just outside the top-10 were junior Tristyn Nowlin and freshman Kornkamol Sukaree, who both tied for 13th with 217 (+4). Nowlin posted 13 birdies throughout the tournament, edging out teammate Wang for the top spot. While Sukaree posted nine birdies and earned an under-par at 69 (-2) in the second round.
Next up, the Illini will be making the trip to the Windy City to host the inaugural Illini Women's Invitational at Medinah. The tournament will be held at the prominent Medinah Country Club from Oct. 8-9. CLICK HERE to visit the tournament information page.
"Going into Medinah, we need to continue focusing on short game, wedge work, and finding a way to minimize those big numbers," said Slone.
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