Newren finishes second, Cougars fourth at MWC Championship

SUNRIVER -- BYU's Rachel Newren finish second while the Cougars ended the tournament in fourth on a cold, rainy day at the Mountain West Conference Championship in Sunriver, Ore.

Newren was four-over-par on the day and finished four shots back of Elena Kurokawa of UNLV and two shots ahead of Colorado State's Kristen Campos. Newren's second place finish was BYU's highest finish at the conference tournament since Sharon Probst took medalist honors in 1993.

"We played in a driving rainstorm all day, and you've really got to take your hats off to the way Rachel (Newren) played under these conditions," BYU head coach Sue Nyhus said. "She's on pace to set the all-time season stroke average for BYU and showed why in this tournament."

Alexis Edwards also had a solid tournament for BYU. She finished in 15th place thanks to a final-round 79 while teammate Margaret Gibby-Wright finished tied for 18th place. Freshman Juli Wightman and Senior Natalie Newren finished 24th and 21st respectively.

No. 25 UNLV hung on to win its second-consecutive conference tournament as they edged out New Mexico by two strokes. Colorado State, who the Cougars had beaten in four consecutive tournaments prior the MWC Championship, finished in third place ahead of BYU. San Diego State and Wyoming finished fifth and sixth respectively.

The Cougars now look ahead and begin gearing up for the NCAA West Regional in two weeks.

"We're going to give it all we got (at Regionals) and get back to this course for the NCAA Championship," Nyhus said. "We're already mentally preparing for regionals."

Although BYU is confident of an invitation to the NCAA West Regional in Las Cruces, New Mexico, the Cougars will receive official word on Monday afternoon. If the Cougars can finish among the top eight teams at the regional they will advance to the NCAA Championship which will be held in the familiar confines of Sunriver Resort.

1  UNLV         295-298-305=898
2  New Mexico   300-294-306=900
3  Colorado St. 302-298-307=907
4  BYU          304-301-320=925
5  San Diego St.316-309-329=954
6  Wyoming      332-317-344=993
INDIVIDUAL SCORES
1  Elena Kurokawa, UNLV   69-73-72=214
2  Rachel Newren, BYU     70-73-75=218
3  Kristen Campos, CSU    73-74-73=220
15 Alexis Edwards, BYU    77-78-79=234
18 Margaret Wright, BYU   78-75-83=236
21 Natalie Newren, BYU    80-75-83=238
24 Juli Wightman, BYU     79-79-87=245