McALLEN, TEXAS – After a pair of rounds conducted in extreme wind conditions, the Illinois State Redbirds were back on the course for the third and final round at the 2022 UTRGV Invitational, as ISU shot a final-round 300, and the Redbirds closed the tournament with a fourth place finish among the 16 teams in the field.
Houston Baptist and Texas A&M Corpus Christi tied for the top spot through 54 holes, each finishing with a three-round 920. Utah Valley finished just ahead of ISU with a 924, while Illinois State shot a 925. Finishing behind ISU was Creighton (931), Incarnate Word (932), UTRGV (933), Drake (938), Lamar (946), Omaha (947), Stephen F. Austin (948), Tarleton State (961), North Dakota (961), Texas Southern (972), and Texas A&M Kingsville (1019).
Maria Toledo Bailey recorded her second top-10 finish of the season by finishing in a tie for 8th place overall with a three-round total of 228, while Ali Schrock's final-round 71 improved her 14 places to a tie of 14th with a 54-hole total of 231. Avalon Woodward had a balanced final round to keep her in a tie of 16th place in the field with a 232. Kehler Koss finished with a three-round 240, tied for 41st, with Vinisha Gunaseelan finished 52nd with a 244. Playing as an individual, Kira Wolf shot a final-round 78 for a three-round 249, placing her 62nd overall.
Schrock closed the tournament with a one-under 71, and she was either at or under par for the full 18 holes. She opened with a par and a birdie and had a total of two birdies, one bogey, and 15 pars. The under-par score was her team-leading fifth-such round this season.
Toledo Bailey closed her tournament with a two-over 74, a round that saw her card one birdie, three bogeys and 14 pars in her top-10 finish for the tournament.
Woodward – like Schrock and Toledo Bailey – had a balanced round with 15 pars to go with three over-par scores, finishing her final round of the tournament with the four-over 76.
The team's fourth scorer for the round was graduate student Kehler Koss who finished with a seven-over 79, playing an 18 holes that saw her card a birdie and 10 pars in the round.
Gunaseelan was the team's non-counting fifth score, and she had a birdie and nine pars, finishing with an eight-over 80.
Wolf, whose score did not count towards the team's total, shot a final-round 78 (+6), a round that saw a pair of birdies and nine pars.
ISU returns to competition on March 19-20 when the team travels to Sedona, Arizona, to compete in the Red Rocks Invitational, an event hosted by Northern Arizona University.
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