Sept. 13, 2011
FINAL RESULTS
Missouri State standouts Kelsey Welber (Plano, Texas) and Catherine Dolan (Ballwin, Mo.) set the pace for the Bears in their women's golf fall-season debut Monday and Tuesday at the Chip-N Club Invitational in Lincoln, Neb. The senior tandem finished fifth and sixth, respectively, in a field of 81 individuals to lead the Bears to a fifth-place team finish.
Welber finished six strokes off the leader, Felicia Espericueta of SMU (220), who was the only player better than Weber on the final 18. With a third-round 72 to her credit, Welber improved seven spots on the final day after previous rounds of 75 and 79 Monday.
Dolan was one stroke behind Welber with a consistent 76-74-77--227 showing. The 2011 Missouri Amateur champion finished the day where she began, tied for sixth, and helped MSU climb within four strokes of host Nebraska in the 15-team field.
SMU (920), Redlands Community College (921), Iowa (925), Nebraska (926) and Missouri State (930) were the top five team finishers. The Bears were in sixth place after the first 36 holes, but were just seven strokes behind Redlands for the team lead. On Tuesday, the Bears' 310 was still tied for the fifth-best team performance of the day, but SMU pulled away from the pack with a round-best 306 on the final 18 holes.
The Bears also outdistanced fellow Missouri Valley Conference foes Wichita State (968), which tied for 11th and Creighton (1013), which was 14th.
Rounding out the individual efforts for Coach Kevin Kane's squad were junior Emma Clegg (233) who tied for 18th, senior Emily Potts (246) who was 48th, and freshman Megan Thompson (250) who captured 58th place.
Missouri State will have a week off next week before traveling to Manhattan, Kan., for the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational, Sept. 26-27.
