BARTONVILLE, Ill. – Behind a two-under 70 from Illinois State junior Ali Schrock, the Redbirds remained in third place for the entirety of the final round at the 2021 Coyote Creek Classic. Behind the round today, Schrock ended the tournament one stroke under par, which put her third in the individual standings.
Xavier – who led after the first round – never relinquished its lead for the tournament and ended with an 871, while Missouri State carded an 878. Illinois State's 891 is the second time this season that the Redbirds have finished a tournament with a three-round score under 900, the first time that an ISU team has had multiple sub-900 tournaments in the same season.
ISU's final round of 299 gave the Redbirds their fifth sub-300 round this season, which is now tied for the second-most in a single-season, through just nine rounds during the season. Only the six from the shortened 2020-21 season are more than what the Redbirds have this season.
Schrock's 215 is the second-lowest 54-hole tournament score in school history, trailing only the 214 carded by ISU Percy Family Athletics Hall of Fame member Samantha Richdale. Her total ties her for the second spot, with teammate Maria Toledo Bailey, who shot an identical 215 at the season-opening Redbird Invitational.
Green Bay (911), Bradley (912), Loyola Chicago (914), Drake (923), Cleveland State (934), Western Illinois (942), Western Michigan (962), Valparaiso (966), and Chicago State (983) finished behind the Redbirds over the three rounds.
Schrock led the way for the Redbirds with a final-round 70 – tied for the lowest individual round on the day – and her 215 (-1) has her third in the field of 66 golfers. Vinisha Gunaseelan ended the tournament with a 222 (+6), tied for eighth in her first top-10 finish of her Redbird career. Kira Wolf shot a 226 (+10) to tie for 15th with Kehler Koss (230, +14) and Avalon Woodward (233, +17) rounding out the scoring five for ISU by tying for 24th and 32nd, respectively. Playing as an individual, Maria Toledo Bailey ended the tournament with a 224 (+8) to tie for 13th.
Schrock, who started the day on the first hole, was one under par through the first five holes, before two bogeys and four pars over her next six holes pushed her to one shot over par for the round. She closed strong, including carding birdies on the 12th and 13th holes, while her final birdie on the 17th hole gave her a tie for her season-low round for the year.
Koss and Wolf tied for the second and third finishes among the Redbirds' scoring group, with Koss closing strong as she had two birdies and six pars over her final eight holes to close the round with a 76, while Wolf also had two birdies to go with a dozen pars for her final-round 76.
Gunaseelan opened her day with a birdie on her opening hole – the first hole – and added another birdie on the par-four 15th hole. Those two birdies, along with her 10 pars gave her the final-round 77. Woodward ended her round with a birdie on her 18th hole and had 10 pars along the way to that birdie for her third-round 79. Toledo Bailey had a pair of birdies and 11 pars for her final-round 75.
After a weekend off from competition, the Redbirds close the fall season on October 24-26 at the Little Rock Intercollegiate, hosted at Diamante Country Club in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
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