Oct. 24, 2000
PARRISH, Fla. -
Senior captain Shane Smith closed the fall
season with yet another steady round while freshman Shannon Byrne continued
the impressive start to her college career, as the Notre Dame women's golf
wrapped up its fall season Tuesday with an 11th-place finish at the Central
District Classic.
Notre Dame closed with a round of 322-after posting 331-326 on
Monday-for a 979 total at the par-72, 6,113-yard River Wilderness Country
Club. Smith posted her third team-best finish in five 2000 fall events,
after tying for 28th in the 55 player field with a 240 total (80-79-81).
Byrne closed with an 81 for a 243 total, followed closely by Notre
Dame junior Kristin McMurtrie (79-244). Freshmen Rebecca Rogers (84-256)
and sophomore Terri Taibl (81-256) rounded out the Irish contingent in the
play-five, count-four format.
Northwestern (916) edged Kent State by four strokes to claim the
team title while Ohio State's Ashley Lowery claimed a one-stroke victory in
the individual competition. The tournament included several top squads from
the Big Ten Conference, plus Kent State, Baylor and Arkansas.
Smith will head into the 2001 spring season with an 82.00 career
stroke average and a 79.92 season average-both on pace to challenge the
Irish records (82.10, 79.50) set by 1998 graduate Katie King. Smith-who has
posted ND's team-best score in seven of the last 14 intercollegiate
events-also has counted to the Notre Dame team score in 52 of her 55 career
rounds (94.6 pct.), well ahead of the ND record (.871) shared by '98 grads
King and Tracy Melby.
SEASON NOTES:
ND will head into the spring with a 321.33 average
four-player score, which would rank ahead of every previous mark in the
Irish record book except the 319.83 posted in 1997-98 ... Byrne (81.17)
surged past Rogers (81.33) to post ND's second-best fall stroke average,
followed by McMurtrie (81.92) and freshman Jeanne Murphy (85.11, played 9
of ND's 12 rounds) among Irish regulars ... Taibl averaged 82.17 strokes
while playing in the final two fall events ... Smith and Byrne both
factored in the four-player team score in 11 of 12 fall rounds, followed by
McMurtrie and Rogers (each 9-of-12), Murphy (4-of-9), Taibl (4-of-6) and
sophomore Priscilla Ro (1-of-3) ... McMurtrie's fall improved her career
average to 83.04 (5th in ND history), including 44-of-53 rounds counted to
team score as a member of the starting unit.
FINAL TEAM STANDINGS (54 holes):
1. Northwestern 300-309-307/916, 2. Kent
State 310-310-300/920, 3. Ohio State 302-320-303/925, 4. Michigan
304-312-313/928, 5. Michigan State 303-325-319/947, 6. Illinois
318-318-318/954, 7. Baylor 320-326-311/957, 8. Minnesota 313-330-320/963,
9. Wisconsin 321-326-319/966, 10. Arkansas 315-329-326/970, 11. Notre
Dame 331-326-322/979.
TOP INDIVIDUALS (of 55):
1. Ashley Lowery (OSU) 72-82-71/225, 2. Emily
Gilley (NW) 75-73-78/226, Veronique Drouin (KENT) 76-75-75/226, 4.
Martina Gillen (KENT) 79-77-73/229, Mollie Fankhauser (OSU) 74-81-74/229,
Lauren Grzebien (NW) 73-79-77/229, Elizabeth Burden (NW) 73-80-76/229.
NOTRE DAME SCORES:
28. Shane Smith 80-79-81/240, 36. Shannon Byrne
79-83-81/243, 37. Kristin McMurtrie 83-82-79/244, 54. Terri Taibl
89-86-81/256, 52. Rebecca Rogers 90-82-84/256.
