Vikings tied for fifth after third day at NCAA II Championships

May 15, 2008

HOUSTON, Texas - Shooting the worst round of the tournament, Western Washington University fell one spot and is tied for fifth place following play Thursday at the NCAA Division II Women's Golf National Championships being played at the Memorial Park Golf Course.

The four-day, 72-hole tourney ends Friday.

Western shot 323 for a 54-hole total of 933 and is tied with Tarleton State TX (310) in the eight-team field. The Vikings, who were fourth after the first two rounds, placed second at the West Regional behind Tarleton.

Nova Southeastern FL (300), the leader after each of the first two rounds, is now tied for the top spot in the team standings at 887 with Rollins FL (293). A distant third at 918 is Grand Valley State MI (308), with Ferris State MI fourth at 924 (320).

"Today was definitely disappointing," said Western coach Bo Stephan. "We went out thinking that we would play our best golf and we played pretty much our worst golf, at least in the last few weeks."

"But it's been tiring. It was really hot and super muggy and with the afternoon tee time in this temperature, we seemed to be a little lethargic."

Breanna Carmichael (So., Tacoma/Bellarmine Prep) and Kaitlin Parker (Jr., Burlington/Marysville-Pilchuck) each shot 79s to lead Western. Carmichael is tied for 15th at 229 and Parker is tied for 17th at 230.

"Breanna (Carmichael) had another solid round going and just struggled at the finish," Stephan said. "One of the harder par threes is No.15 and she had to wait for three groups to play before she could tee it up."

"Kaitlin (Parker) grinded it out as hard as she could, but never got anything that got her going like a birdie putt or never hit a shot that really pumped her up."

The Vikings' Lianne Matkin (So., Spokane/Northwest Christian) shot 81 and is tied for 40th at 244, and Catherine Kim (Sr., Bellevue/Skyline) and Allison Gillette (Sr., Seattle/Ballard) each posted 84s. Kim is tied for 29th at 236 and Gillette is 38th at 241.

Rollins' Joanna Coe took over the medalist lead at 212 after shooting a 4-under 68. That is six shots better than Florida Southern's Heather Burgner, who is second at 218 (74), and Nova Southeastern's Taylor Collins, who is third at 219 (75).

Those three players were tied for first after Wednesday's second round.

It is the fourth national appearance as a NCAA member for Western, which placed fifth in each of its three previous trips. It is the sixth national tourney overall for the Vikings, who placed eighth at the NAIA Championships in 1998 and 10th in 1997.