Sept. 17, 2005
Normal, Ill. -
Despite a challenging day on the golf course, Illinois State senior Samantha Richdale leads the way for the Redbirds. After two rounds of play at the Mary Fossum Invitational the Redbirds sit in 14th place. The `Birds shot a 319 in round one and a 309 in round two for a total of 628 to end day one.
After the first two rounds Richdale leads her team, tied for 28th place, carding a 76 in round one and a 77 in round two for a two-round total of 153. Head coach Ray Kralis is pleased with Richdale's scores in the 70's but would have liked to have seen more from the team .
"In the morning we did not play very well as a team," said Kralis. "In the afternoon, the team really stepped up and everyone put a score in the 70's."
Stepping up since her first appearance in a collegiate tournament last week is Kaitlin Troop in 38th place with a 156 (80,76). Kralis is excited to see the low scores she is giving.
"It was great to see Kaitlin make a tremendous bounce back from last week," said Kralis. "She will continue to make strides and I hope the rest of the team can round out the scores she is putting out."
Two points behind Troop is junior Chelsea Bach tied for 50 with a 158 (80, 78), junior Hilary Anderson tied for 60 with a 161 (83,78) and Ashlie Rose tied for 66 with a 162 (84,78).
"Our performance today was disappointing," said Kralis. "Each week we go in and the fields are so competitive that you hate to let the opportunities slip by like today, but we have a great team and I expect us to rebound back tomorrow."
The host Michigan State is leading the tournament with a total of 594, finishing second is Southern Methodist with 595 and third is Northwestern with 598. Tied for fourth with 606 is Kent State and University of Toledo, Oklahoma is in sixth with 609 and Princeton is in seventh with 612. Trailing Princeton by one is Michigan in eighth, Illinois in ninth with 619 and Wisconsin in 10th with 621. Iowa State stands in 11th place with 623, Iowa is in 12th with 625 and finishing one stroke ahead of ISU is Eastern Michigan with 627. Twelve strokes behind ISU is Indiana in 15th place with 640.
"We're not going to let today's performance get in our heads, said Kralis. "A strong round tomorrow can pass a lot of people and we have to go out tomorrow and treat round three independently--stay in the present, stay focused and keep our heads up. We're too good and too experienced to let a day like today get us down."
The `Birds resume action, for the third and final round, with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 18 at par 72 Forest Akers West Golf Course.
