By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
WALLA WALLA, Wash. -- Lexi Towner (Jr., Chico, CA/Chico HS) of Willamette University carded a score of 84 in the second round and finished the Northwest Conference Tournament in a tie for 20th place as action concluded at Wine Valley Golf Club on Sunday, April 28. Towner, who improved by five strokes on her 89 from the first round, earned a 36-hole score of 173.
Towner, who was 7-over-par after 14 holes on Sunday, tied for 20th with Kristy Koyanagi from University of Puget Sound. Koyanagi also shot 173 with a 90 in the first round and an 83 in the second round.
Also competing for the Bearcats at the NWC Tournanmet was Katerin Vasquez (So., Indio, CA/Coachella Valley HS). She registered an overall score of 209 after shooting 100 in the first round and 109 in the second round. The 100 was her second lowest round of the year.
The individual NWC Tournament title went to Shiyang Fan of Whitman College with a score of 151. She carded a 76 in the opening round and followed up with a 75 on Sunday. She won by four strokes over Janelle Decker opf George Fox University. Decker shot 155 on the strength of a 77 in the first round and an 80 in the second round. Alexandria McMenamin of George Fox was third at 156 after shooting a 78 in both rounds.
Hannah Roh of Whitman placed fourth at 157 (82-75), and Kayle Hunn from GFU was fifth at 158 (82-76). A two-way tie for sixth place at 159 was shared by Annie McCutchan from Lewis & Clark College and by Iris Kawada from GFU. McCutchan shot 84-75 and Kawada shot 81-78. McCutchan's 75 tied Fan and Roh for the tournament's low round -- all on Sunday. A total of 39 golfers competed in the tournament.
Whitman won the NWC Tournament team championship with a socre of 622. The Blues shot 321 in the first round and added a 301 in the second round. George Fox took second place at 626 (318-310) and Whitworth University was third at 668 (347-321).
Lewis & Clark finished fourth at 675 (347-328), Pacific Lutheran University was fifth at 690 (347-343), Pacific University was sixth at 729 (378-351), and Puget Sound placed seventh at 7634 (382-352). Linfield College and Willamette did not field complete teams.
The NWC Tournament is worth one-half of the overall NWC Championship, while the NWC Fall Classic and the NWC Spring Classic are each worth one-fourth of the title. George Fox and Whitman tied in the overall standings and were co-champions. GFU won a one-hole playoff against Whitman and will receive the NWC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III women's Golf Championships on May 14-17 at Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas.
Big Moment of the Tournament for Willamette
Lexi Towner shot an 84 in the second round of the Northwest
Conference Tournament to finish with a 36-hole score of 173.
She improved by five strokes from the first round.