Full Results
Shakopee, Minn.--Laura Knutson (Edina, Minn.) shot an 88 and Louise Buckler (Blaine, Minn./St. Paul Academy) recorded her best finish of the season and her first top 20 of the year, but Carleton couldn't find any good scoring outside of the two first-year players in finishing tied for third at the Knights' own invitational.
Carleton's home event was moved to Stonebrooke Golf Club in Shakopee, Minn., since Northfield Golf Club wasn't open. St. Thomas won the team and individual titles as Laura Heck was the lone player to break 80 in the small but loaded field, as she posted a 78 to lead the Tommies to their fourth straight Carleton Invite title at 327. Heck is the third straight UST player to win the event as well.
Knutson ended a shot outside the top 10 in a tie for 13th, followed by Buckler at 90 in 15th. Gustavus was second in the team race at 342. Carleton and Macalester tied for third at 371, followed by St. Benedict at 378.
Katrina Wood (Jr./Duluth, Minn./Marshall School) struggled to get anything positive going, firing a college career-high 93. Sarah Ingebritsen (Sr./Spokane, Wash./Lewis & Clark) couldn't find any magic on her birthday, ending up at 100, followed by Meghan Gajare (Fy./Kalamazoo, Mich./Portage Central) at 101.
"It's pretty tough to post a good score if you have to count a 100, but we also need Katrina to play much better if we're going to throw something respectable on the board," Carleton head coach Eric Sieger said. "Laura played fairly well and Louise was solid all day. When we've been successful this season, we've found those solid third and fourth scores, and we didn't have that today."
In a field that included second-ranked Gustavus, third-ranked St. Thomas, 18th-ranked Carleton and highly-ranked individuals from UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stevens Point, only six players finished at 84 or lower. The field battled cold, windy conditions all day, playing on a tough course in Stonebrooke that featured numerous water hazards, although many of them still had ice covering them. With the course being open for such a short time, the course was very wet, causing it to play much longer than the scorecard indicated.
The Knights are back in action next weekend at the MWCGA Championships in Becker, Minn.
