CMS Women's Golf Captures First SCIAC Regular Season Tournament, Yoo Finishes Second

CHINO HILLS, Calif. - The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's golf team had a strong two-day performance as it captured a seven-shot win over Redlands at the first regular season SCIAC Tournament, which was held on Saturday and Sunday at Los Serranos Golf Club's North Course.

The first round was suspended before completion on Saturday, although the Athenas were among the first to tee off and had their 18 holes in the books before it was suspended. When the first round finished up on Sunday morning, the Athenas held a seven-shot lead over Pomona-Pitzer heading into the second round, which followed immediately after.

At the conclusion of Sunday's second and final round, CMS pulled away from the Sagehens to end up 13 shots ahead (627 to 640). But the Athenas needed to hold off a charge from Redlands, led by individual winner Kendall Nicholson (77-74-151), which finished four shots ahead of CMS on Sunday, but finished seven shots back with a two-day 634. 

The Athenas had four finishers in the top 10 to use its depth to earn the team title. Sophomore Mira Yoo led the way with a 155, finishing second overall four shots behind Nicholson. Sophomore Emily Attiyeh had a team-best score of 78 on her second round to finish tied for fourth with a 157, along with senior Kelly Ransom. Freshman Amy Xue was tied for seventh with a 158 and was in the top four for the Athenas on both days, while fellow freshman Tiffany Hu was tied for 13th overall, but ended up fifth on her own team. 

Conditions were challenging again for the Athenas, which played in rain last weekend in a dual with Redlands and once again fought through afternoon rain after sunny skies in the morning. Yoo had three of the seven birdies that the six CMS players accrued on the day, earning them on the fifth, eighth and tenth holes.  Hu also had multiple birdies, opening with a four on the par-five first hole, and adding a three on the par-four fourth to get off to a strong start. 

The first-place finish bodes well for the defending national champion Athenas, who battled a tough SCIAC field featuring four teams in the national top 12 to finish first this weekend. Pomona-Pitzer ended the fall season ranked No. 7, with CMS at No. 10, Redlands at No. 11 and Whittier at No. 12. 

The Athenas will next be in action when they compete in the George Fox Invitational on March 16-17 in Peoria, Arizona.