CARLSBAD, Calif. – The Western Washington University women's golf team showed a 16-stroke improvement and climbed five spots up the leaderboard to record a top-10 finish at the DII West Region Preview completed Tuesday at The Club at La Costa. 

 

The Vikings started the day in 15^th place out of 17 teams after a first-round 329 (+41), but moved up five spots with a 25-over-par 313 in Tuesday's final round. Ranked No. 49 nationally in the Golfstat team rankings, WWU finished ahead of No. 33 Oklahoma Christian and No. 21 Texas A&M-Commerce.

 

2019 NCAA II national runner-up and tournament host Cal State San Marcos took home the team title finishing at 18-over-par 594 for a 10-stroke victory over West Texas A&M.

 

Freshman Elise Sumner led the Viking contingent tying for 29^th place with rounds of 80 (+8) and 78 (+6) for a tournament total of 14-over-par 158. Senior Brianna Esvelt carded the Vikings low round of the tournament with a 4-over-par 76 in the final round.

 

"I am pleased with how the team bounced back today and finished with a solid final round," said WWU head coach Luke Bennett. "I thought Brianna got off to a great start and played solid throughout her round. Claire (Moon) and Elise (Sumner) really battled the last two days, which was great to see out of two freshmen."

 

Freshman Claire Moon and senior Lacy Overstreet tied for 45^th place at 18-over-par 162.

 

Simon Fraser senior Emily Leung led the tournament wire-to-wire to take home individual medalist honors at 2-under-par 142. The recorded a one-stroke victory over Jamie Jacob of Cal State San Marcos (-1, 143).

 

The Vikings wrap up the fall portion of the 2019-20 schedule next week at the Dennis Rose Intercollegiate hosted by the University of Hawai'i Hilo Oct. 28-30 in Waikoloa, Hawai'i.

 

Here is a look at the individual results for WWU and the team leaderboard from the DII West Regional Preview. The 2020 NCAA II West/South Central Super Regional will be held on the same course May 4-6, 2020.

 

 

The complete 2019-20 season schedule, team roster and past season statistics provided by Golfstatcan be viewed online at WWUVikings.com/WGolf. Fans can also follow the women's golf team via social media posts on twitter at @WWUGolf, Facebook at @WWUWGolf and Instagram at @wwu_womensgolf.

 

The WWU women's golf team recently completed its 26^th season as an intercollegiate sport in 2018-19 with a third-place finish at the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships. The Vikings won the first five GNAC Championships beginning with the inaugural event in 2011, and have placed in the top three during all nine conference tournaments. WWU has made 10 appearances in the NCAA II West Regional Championships, last in 2016, and six trips to the NCAA II National Championships. A Viking has been named the GNAC Player of the Year in seven of the nine years it has been awarded, including 2018-19 conference co-Player of the Year Lacy Sheldon. WWU has also produced the only two players in GNAC history to earn four First Team All-GNAC awards (Jenn Paul and Kristen Hansen) and has produced nine All-Americans.