Samantha Richdale and Ashlie Rose, a pair of freshmen on the Illinois State womens golf team, each shot 73 and 75 respectively, to lead the Redbirds to a team total of 627 (318-309) and a fifth- place finish, Tuesday, at the 28th Annual Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational at Tuscawilla Country Club, in Winter Park, Fla.
Richdale, who finished the tournament with a 151 total, claimed the third top-ten finish of her career by placing ninth. Rose, who improved upon her 79 from yesterdays round, finished the tournament in 16th place with a 154 total.
Head coach
Ray Kralis was pleased with the play of his young guns.
Samantha keeps coming up big for us and was only one or two swings away from challenging the tournament title, said Kralis. This was a break-through round for Ashlie. She has been playing well and improving, and it was nice for her to see the results of her hard work. It is great to see two freshmen take charge and lead the pack.
Sophomore Ashlee Johnson shot an 81, while junior Albiona Zhubi shot an 80 to tie in the 40th place with a 161 total. Sophomore Katie Laehn put up an 81 to bring her two-day total to 165. Kaila Fuller, a sophomore who played as an individual in the tournament, added an 82 to her first-round score of 77, for a 159 total and the third-best showing by a Redbird.
Obviously, it is good to improve and move up from yesterdays showing, said Kralis. It is still early in the season and we have room for improvement but we definitely made a move in the right direction. We finished above another Valley school and some ranked teams as well.
Penn State claimed the team trophy with a 607 tournament total, while Notre Dames Katie Brophy took home the individual title with a two-day total of 147. Illinois State edged out Valley foe Southern Illinois, which finished in sixth place, by two strokes.
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