JONESBORO, Ark. – Using a final-round team score of 285 – the 10th-lowest single-round in program history – and an individual score of 68 from Reagan Kennedy – the seventh-lowest single-round in school history – the Illinois State women's golf team placed eighth at the Lady Red Wolves Classic.
Kennedy finished with a 54-hole score of 215, the 18th best tournament score in school history, as she tied for 12th in the strong field.
Illinois State had a 54-hole team score of 879 – the 12th-best team tournament score in school history – as the event was won by tournament host Arkansas State with an 861. Murray State (862), Austin Peay (864), Central Arkansas (868), Little Rock (869), West Georgia (873), and Troy (876) finished just ahead of ISU. Samford (886), Morehead State (888), Southern Illinois (891), Memphis (897), and UAB (900) rounded out the 13 schools in the tournament.
Kennedy had five birdies and a dozen pars during her career-low round, and had nine birdies over her tournament, also a career-low. She had her biggest successes on the day on the tournament's par-four holes, as she had an average of 3.87 (-4) on those holes, tied for the third-best par-four scoring average in the tournament.
Freshman Cora Hirz tied for 17th with a 54-hole score of 217, including a final round 70 (-2). Her round score of 70 is tied for the seventh lowest by an ISU freshman in school history, while her 217 for the tournament is tied for the sixth lowest ever by a Redbird freshman. She had four birdies and a dozen pars in her final round, while her par-five scoring average of 4.58 during the tournament (-5 aggregate) was tied for the second-best in the tournament.
Cynthia Lang – also a freshman – finished one stroke behind Hirz in a tie of 23rd place, with a final-round 73 (+1). Her tournament score is tied for the ninth-best tournament score by a Redbird freshman in program history, and her par four scoring average of 3.83 (-5) is the second-best in the tournament. She had three birdies and a dozen pars during her final round.
Alex Sparrow closed the tournament with a final-round 74, and her three-round score of 229 is tied for 61st individually. She had three birdies and 10 pars during her finishing round. Xuan (Hazel) Gao closed with a final-round 78 for a 238 (78th place) and had two birdies and eight pars. Claudia Weston – playing as an individual – closed with an 87 and in 81st place.
The squad closes the fall season on November 1 and 2 at the Samford Intercollegiate in Birmingham, Alabama.
