Justin Wulf

The women’s golf team rounded out the fall season with an eighth-place finish at the Ross Resorts Invitational hosted by Rollins College.

Freshman Morgan Fitts had the lowest finish for the Jacks, tied for 27th with a three-round score of 240.

Although the team carded high scores throughout the tournament, head coach Jared Baszler said his girls “didn’t play bad.

“We just had some bad stretches of holes,” Baszler said. “The epitome of the weekend was Morgan going out on Oct. 27 and shooting 3-under through six holes, then shooting 12-over on her last 12 holes.”

Host Rollins College captured the team title by seven strokes with an 897, while Nova Southeastern University’s Sandra Changkija fired a 4-under – the event’s only score under par – to claim the individual win.

Junior Sydney Sturdevant tallied a pair of uncommon 80-plus rounds, which Baszler attributed to her putter.

“She hit the ball well, but her putter let her down big time,” Baszler said. “When your putter leaves you, it doesn’t matter how well you’re hitting, you won’t put up a good score.”

The Sioux Falls native tied for 36th with a 244 three-day total. Junior Whitney Schrader opened the tournament with back-to-back rounds of 79 before shooting a final-round 85 to finish with a 243 to tie for 34th.

Sophomore Rebecca Swords tied for 38th with a score of 248, while Brittany Hanten shot a 252 to finish 50th.

“It’s kind of hard to put a finger on one thing, but I think it came down to us making too many double-bogeys,” Baszler said. “It was a tough course, but that’s no excuse because it’s the same for everybody.”

Even though the girls set school records, lowered the team scoring average and exceeded Baszler’s fall expectations, the head coach said the women’s team still has work to do heading into the spring season.

“It’s exciting to set school records – and we can’t complain about that – but we’ve still got work to do,” Baszler said. “When I look at the leaderboard, we’re still not where I want to be.

“We just need to manage our bad rounds a little better. There’s not any secret on how to do that; we just need to get it done.”

Both the men’s and women’s teams will resume play in the spring by hosting the inaugural Jackrabbit Invitational on March 15 to 16 in Primm, Nev.