MIRAMAR BEACH, Fla. – The No. 21-ranked Carleton College women's golf team climbed two spots on the final day of play at the Golfweek D-III Fall Invitational, wrapping up the 54-hole event in eighth place. The Knights posted a team score of 296 on in the final round, tied for third-best in the 24-team field that included 18 nationally-ranked squads and three other programs receiving votes in the WGCA top-25 poll.
 
"The team played their best round of the fall today," said Carleton head coach Sloan Wallgren. "All five were outstanding! I'm so proud of the women for ending the fall on a high note!"
 
Carleton finished the three-day event with a team score of 916 (309-311-296).
 
No. 5 Pomona-Pitzer won the tournament with a score of 879, with No. 7 Carnegie Mellon University (898) and No. 3 Emory University (908) rounding out the top three spots.
 
No. 14 Illinois Wesleyan (910) finished fourth, No. 13 Centre College (911) placed fifth, while No. 9 Washington and Lee University (913) took sixth, and No. 2 Washington University in St. Louis (914) completed the tournament in seventh.
 
The Knights finished ahead of 10 nationally-ranked programs with eight of those squads listed ahead of Carleton in the WGCA rankings, including a trio of top-15 squads: No. 8 St. Catherine University, No. 10 Methodist University, and No. 15 University of Texas at Dallas.
 
Carter Sichol collected four more birdies on Tuesday as she carded an even-par 72 in the final round. She wrapped up the event in third place out of 120 golfers with a 54-hole score of 218 (71-75-72). Sichol totaled 10 birdies over the three rounds tied for second-most in the field.

After climbing 20 spots on the leaderboard on Monday, Mindy Zhai moved up another 11 slots with a final round 73 (+1) as she had two birdies on the back nine. Overall, she tied for 21st place with a three-day total score of 227 (79-75-73).
 
After carding scores of 80 and 82 on the first two days, Sarah Zheng leapt 19 spots in the standings with a 75 (+3) on Tuesday. She ended up in a tie with teammate Cynthia Lu for 69th place with a three-day score of 237. Zheng finished strong, collecting birdies on two of the tournament's final four holes.
 
Lu (79-82-76) turned in her lowest score of the tournament with a final-round 76. She started the day with a birdie and played the first 13 holes at even par. She improved 10 spots in the standings during Tuesday's play.
 
Like Zhai, Natalie Tatar improved her score each subsequent round (84-79-76). She totaled 14 pars on Tuesday and concluded the Florida trip with a total score of 239 to tie for 80th overall.
 
Pomona-Pitzer (177) and Carleton (169) were the top-two teams in accumulating pars over the three days at the Baytowne Golf Club.
 
Up Next for the Knights
Carleton will step away from competition until the spring portion of the season.