Cullowhee, N.C. – Idle since posting its sixth podium finish of the 2022-23 season with a third-place showing out west at the Jackrabbit Invitational, the Western Carolina women’s golf team returns to action Monday and Tuesday at the Georgia State Spring Invitational at the par-72, 6,170-yard Rivermont Golf Club in Johns Creek, Ga.
The 54-hole tournament will be held over two days, March 27-28 with 36-consecutive holes on Monday and the third round on Tuesday. Monday’s shotgun start is slated for 8:15 a.m., with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. for the final round on Tuesday. Live scoring of the event is available online through GolfStat with a link at CatamountSports.com.
In addition to the Catamounts and the host Panthers, the 16-team field includes Albany, Appalachian State, Bradley, Boston College, Charleston Southern, Charlotte, Dayton, Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan, Jacksonville State, Lipscomb, Murray State, Seton Hall, and Troy. Two squads – Lipscomb (93) and host Georgia State (95) – rank inside the latest GolfStat rankings Top 100 with WCU third in the field at No. 105.
Western Carolina continued its historic season with a third-place finish last time out as sophomore Elizabeth Lohbauer shared individual medalist honors at the Jackrabbit Invite in Boulder City, Nev. Her career-best, three-round score of 210 (73-69-68) is the second-best 54-hole score in program history, just four strokes off the benchmark 206 fired by Madison Isaacson back in the fall portion of the schedule. WCU’s team score of 884 represents the fourth-best, 54-hole tournament score in program history.
Lohbauer leads the Catamounts into the tournament as the team’s top seed. The Venice, Fla., native and two-time SoCon Women’s Golfer of the Week enters the week ranked third in the conference in seasonal scoring average with a team-best 72.61. True freshman Brie Mapanao flanks her, fifth in the SoCon at 73.33, and fifth-year senior Madison Isaacson at No. 3, sixth in the SoCon at 73.56. Senior Victoria Ladd (15th, 75.44) is seeded fourth and after competing unattached as an individual over the past two tournaments, Canadian-born sophomore Kaitlyn Wingnean moves back into the scoring five as the No. 5 seed.
WCU redshirt sophomore Kayleigh Baker (20th, 76.22) will vie for medalist honors unattached as an individual as a sixth Catamount golfer in the tournament field.
Complete recaps and results will be made available after each day’s competition.
Source: Catamount Sports