University of South Carolina Upstate Athletics
Great Smoky Mountains Intercollegiate
Lewis Claims Top 10 Finish At Great Smokies Intercollegiate
9/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Waynesville, N.C. – USC Upstate's Rachel Lewis claimed the first top 10 finish of her collegiate career after finishing at even par in the Great Smokies Intercollegiate Sunday afternoon at the Waynesville Inn Golf Resort.
Lewis, a freshman from Llanishen, Wales, opened the tournament with a 3-under-par 69 on Saturday and shot a 75 Sunday to finish at even par. She finished tied for ninth with two other golfers in the field. She finished as the low Spartan in the tournament, the lowest finish by any Upstate golfer in three appearances in the event. She finished tied for seventh in the tournament with eight birdies over two rounds.
Lewis' 144 total marked the lowest 36-hole tournament total in program history. She topped the old record by five strokes. Audrey Church held the previous mark of 149 set at the 2008 Great Smokies Intercollegiate.
"It's so awesome for Rachel," said Upstate head coach Todd Lawton. "She knew that she had some pressure on her this morning. She is a competitor through and through. She understands how to follow through with the game that she has and what her strengths and weaknesses are on any given day."
Lewis shot the lowest round for the Spartans for the second consecutive day, carding a 75 on Sunday. Amanda Hall (Tega Cay, S.C.) was solid on the day, firing a 76, while Taylor Pleier (Spartanburg) closed with a 77. Johanna Ebenhag (Gothenberg, Sweden) finished the day with an 82, while Madison Bryant finished with a 91. Hall finished tied for 57th as the second-lowest Spartan in the tournament.
Upstate shot 310 for the second straight day and claimed 20th-place in the 24-team tournament. The Spartans finished one stroke ahead of Savannah College of Art & Design and nine shots ahead of High Point. Jacksonville State shot back-to-back 289 scores to claim the team championship with a 2-over 578 total. Radford finished second at 586 and was followed in the top 10 by Elon (588), Western Carolina (588), Gardner-Webb (591), Middle Tennessee (591), Old Dominion (592), UAB (593), Wofford (597), William & Mary (597) and Tennessee Tech (597).
"We are making some progress," said Lawton. "We have some freshmen who can play. We just need to do some more and keep going. You just can't make any mistakes in any tournament that we play. They gutted it out all day long. This team just has a bunch of wonderful personalities and they work so hard, which is really encouraging."
UAB's Jaime Ritter turned in a 1-under-par 71 on Sunday to finish at 4-under for the tournament, claiming the individual title by a stroke over Radford's Hannah Coles and Old Dominion's Samantha Morrell at 3-under.
