Team Effort helps Cougars at the Spartan Invitational

SALINAS, CALIF--On the final day of the Spartan Invitational, all five BYU golfers shot in the 70's for the first time this season, propelling the Cougars to a 13th place finish on Wednesday.

"We knew our depth would really help us this year," BYU head coach Gary Howard said. "This tournament has given our team a lot of confidence because we are starting to get contributions from all five of our golfers instead of just two or three."

The Cougars, who are currently ranked 48th in the nation, had eight birdies on the final day. Carrie Summerhays was the top finisher for BYU placing 30th. Summerhays played a solid second round 73, but shot an uncharacteristic 79 to keep her out of the top 20 for the first time in four tournaments.

Senior captain Summer Pierce, who shot a BYU low final round 77, is confident in her teams ability to play solid golf and win tournaments.

"I have a lot of confidence in our team." Pierce said. "I think we have a couple more wins ahead of us this spring."

Howard praised the consistent play of Lisa Dernick who finished 77-78-78.

"Lisa is playing really solid right now," Howard said. "I'm really pleased with how she consistently shoots in the 70's almost every round."

True freshman Nicole Newren shot her best round of the season--77 to also help the Cougars against the toughest field of the season. Seven of the nation's top 25 teams competed in the Spartan Invitational.

New Mexico State won the tournament with a three-day total of 869, one shot better than

Pepperdine who shot an 870. Individually, Kelli Kamimura shot a course-low 66 at Corral de Tierra to win the individual title with a seven-under 209. Lindsey Wright from Pepperdine finished second with a five-under 211.

FINAL RESULTS
1 New Mexico State U.      287  291  291    869    +5 
2 Pepperdine Univ.         298  289  283    870    +6 
3 Arizona State U.         290  287  298    875   +11 
4 Stanford University      302  291  284    877   +13 
5 Washington, U. of        299  299  292    890   +26 
6 Oklahoma State Univ.     299  301  292    892   +28 
7 Tulsa, U. of             299  298  297    894   +30 
8 San Jose State Univ      306  310  300    916   +52 
9 Penn State Univ.         308  308  305    921   +57 
10 Colorado, U. of          317  305  303    925   +61 
11 Washington State U.      305  315  306    926   +62 
12 Oregon State U.          312  318  301    931   +67 
13 Brigham Young Univ.      315  313  311    939   +75 
14 Hawaii, Univ. of         324  332  317    973  +109 
15 Rhodes College           328  332  326    986  +122 
16 CSU-Monterey Bay         414  405  420   1239  +375 
BYU Individual Scores
30  Carrie Summerhays     76-73-79--228  
50  Lisa Dernick          77-78-78--233  
58  Adrianne Gibby        76-82-79--237  
70  Summer Pierce         88-80-77--245  
70  Nicole Newren         86-82-77--245
84  Participants