Led by top-five individual finishes from two players who will team up later this month to play in their second consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball Championship, the Colorado State University women posted their best team finish at a conference championship since 2010 on Wednesday.
After being in eighth place after round 1, the Rams placed third out of nine teams in the 54-hole Women’s Mountain West Conference Championship in Rancho Mirage, Calif. It was their first top-three showing at the event since also placing third in 2010.
CSU ended up with a 31-over-par 895 total, trailing only champion UNLV (872) and San Diego State (880). The Rams placed eighth last year in the MWC meet.
Rams junior Katrina Prendergast and sophomore Ellen Secor finished third and fourth, respectively, individually in Rancho Mirage. The two, who went to the match play round of 16 at last year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball, will pair up again for the event in Tarzana, Calif., starting on April 28. (They’re pictured, with Prendergast at left.)
Prendergast, the MWC individual runner-up in 2016, went 70-69 the last two days after opening with a 77 to finish at even-par 216. After making 10 birdies in the final two rounds, she ended up three strokes behind champion Milagros Chaves of San Diego State. It was Prendergast’s third top-three performance of the season.
Meanwhile, Secor went 74-71-72 for a 217 total. She posted four birdies on Wednesday. Secor notched her third top-five finish of the season.
Women’s Mountain West Conference Championship
April 16-18, 2018 (final) in Rancho Mirage, Calif.
3. (out of 9 teams) Colorado State 306-295-294–895
3. Katrina Prendergast 77-70-69–216
4. Ellen Secor 74-71-72–217
27. Haley Greb 75-81-77–233
30. Jessica Sloot 80-77-77–234
35. Brooke Nolte 83-77-76–236
Also
15. Coloradan Erin Sargent, Wyoming 75-70-78–223