Vikings dominate at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic

This week the PSU women’s golf team competed at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic in Chandler Arizona, which was hosted by the University of Wyoming. The Vikings stayed strong and won the 54-hole event by 28 shots, recording a school-record with scores of 294, 287 and 290 for an 871 total. PSU is now 22-1 in head-to-head scoring against Big Sky schools this year, 92-21-1 against all teams and 16-14-1 against teams in the top 100. It was arguably the finest tournament performance in school history.

Sophmore Brittney Yada is leading the team. Last year, Yada set her school record with a 76.37 scoring average. In addition, her career scoring average now stands at 76.03 and she now has seven straight top 10 finishes. Yada’s peak moment in her career occurred last year in this tournament when she placed second with a two-over par score of 218 (72,73,73). Yada also captured co-medalist honors, tying the record for 54-hole scoring with a three-under par with 213 (71-70-72).

The Vikings had three players in the top six, including Yada and senior Kaylyn Dodge, who tied for third. Dodge (74-69-73=216) broke her personal best score by six strokes and her even par score ranks fourth best in school history. Junior Tiffany Schoning was at her peak on Tuesday, as she tied for sixth with scores of 75, 74 and 71, equaling a 220 total. Senior Alexia Brown tied for 13th place, out of the 121 golfers competing. On Tuesday, she went out in 43, and came in with three birdies for a back-nine 33 and 76 total. Brown shot rounds of 74, 74 and 76 for a 224 total, setting a new personal best for 54 holes. As for freshman Lauren Taylor, she tied for 23rd place with scores of 79, 75 and 74 for a 228 total.

Currently, Yada is leading the team in this season with a 75.66 average, and she also successfully won her first individual title. Her 213 total matches the school record set by Sarah Tiller at the 2004 Bronco Fall Invitational. Yada was steady with two birdies and two bogeys on Tuesday. She posted nine birdies over three rounds and led wire-to-wire. However, Yada was one of three Vikings to shoot the best 54-hole scores of their careers. Schoning is tied with Yada with nine birdies for the week. Dodge and Yada finished with six bogeys each in three rounds. Both of the women led the tournament with a par-four scoring, while Alexia Brown led the tournament in par-five scoring.

All five Vikings performed exceptionally well in the event. While the field scoring average was 79.30 strokes per round for the week, Vikings players had a scoring average of 73.40 per round, including throw-out scores. The Vikings total scoring average this season is 303.3. Which puts them at nearly eight strokes better than last year’s school-record 310.1 mark. The Vikings have stayed strong all season, beating the competition at the Colorado/Heather Farr Memorial and the Bronco Fall Classic. PSU beat the other eight Big Sky Conference schools on the same course they will play on April 18–20 for the Big Sky Championship, which will be held in the Ocotillo Resort. The Viking’s closest opponent was Northern Arizona, which finished 37 shots behind PSU in fifth place with a total score of 908.

Amazingly, Portland State outplayed three teams ranked higher than them at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic. Golfstat.com rated PSU 76th among 255 teams in the nation prior to the tournament. Second-place New Mexico State, who scored an 899, was ranked 64th in the nation. Third-place BYU (902) was ranked 48th, and fifth-place NAU was 73rd. With their recent strong play, the Viking women should be able to compete on a high level and hope for a big finish at the Big Sky Conference. The Ocotillo Golf Resort will host the event on April 18–20. ?