By Paxton Ritchey- CSC Athletic Communications
RAPID CITY, S.D. – Chadron State finished tied for seventh place after two days of golf at the Hardrocker Fall Invite, hosted by South Dakota Mines at The Golf Club at Red Rocks.
The Eagles finished with a 36-hole team score of 703, 127-over-par. Chadron State tied with Dakota Wesleyan for seventh, 22 strokes back of Black Hills State and Doane College, who tied for fifth at 105-over 681. The Eagles were 29 strokes ahead of ninth-place Dordt University and 94 strokes ahead of 10th-place Adams State.
As a team, Chadron improved 15 strokes from Monday’s first round into Tuesday’s second round, shooting a cumulative 359 on Monday followed by a 344 on Tuesday.
Junior Payton Wise was the Eagles’ top finisher, carding scores of 16-over-par 88 and 10-over-par 82 to finish at 26-over-par 170, in 22nd place out of a 59-golfer field. Wise’s 82 on Tuesday was the best single round by an Eagle golfer and featured a run of eight consecutive pars from holes 9-16.
Freshman Klara Kleinig also finished in the top half of the field with a substantial improvement in round two. Kleinig carded a 92 on Monday but followed it up with an 11-over-par 83 on Tuesday to finish with a 36-hole score of 175, tied for 29th place.
The rest of Chadron State’s top five were freshman Brooklyn Tychsen, who finished tied for 36th at 35-over 179 (90, 89), freshman Allison Sanger, who finished 41st at 37-over 181 (91, 90) and junior Aubree Heinsma, who finished tied for 47th at 47-over 191 (90, 101).
Freshman Maggie Teague, out of Casper, Wyoming, competed as an individual and finished in 45th place. Teague improved from a 98 in round one to a 90 in round two, birdieing holes 7 and 16 during Tuesday’s action.
Montana State Billings won the team title by 17 strokes over Augustana. The Yellowjackets shot 52-over-par 628 as a team. MSUB’s Orraya Tipasathien won individual medalist honors by shooting 11-over-par 155 over two rounds. Hosts South Dakota Mines finished third in the team standings, the top-placing RMAC team ahead of Black Hills, CSC and Adams.
The Eagles will be in action next on September 28-29 at the Mustang Invite hosted by Southwest Minnesota State University.