HOWEY-IN-THE-HILLS, Fla. – The Carleton College women's golf team wrapped up play at the NCAA Division III Championships in 15th place. First-year Carter Sichol (Winnetka, Ill./New Trier) led the Knights by finishing 10th overall.
 
"Going into this week at Nationals, our team had the goal of making the cut and representing Carleton in the final round. Goal accomplished," said Carleton head coach Sloan Wallgren. "All of the hard work and practice that these women put in over the last year paid off. Myself and assistant coaches Alexis Chan and Alyssa Akayama are extremely proud of all this team accomplished this year."
 
Carleton featured the youngest squad in the 29-team field for the championships with a lineup of sophomore Olivia Siebert (Glencoe, Ill./New Trier) and first-years Sichol, Cynthia Lu (Redmond, Wash./Redmond), Natalie Tatar (Denver, Colo./St. Mary's Academy), and Sarah Zheng (Bolingbrook, Ill./Neuqua Valley).
 
The Knights entered the tournament ranked No. 32 in the nation by Golfstat but finished ahead of No. 16 Denison University, No. 17 New York University, No. 23 University of Wisconsin-Whitewater and No. 30 Otterbein University.
 
The tournament was hampered by weather delays during the second and third rounds. Additionally, the NCAA Women's Golf Committee elected to cancel the third round due to an "unplayable hole" although about 60 percent of the field had completed their rounds, shortening the event to 54 holes.
 
Carleton posted a team score of 993 (332-325-336, +117). No. 4 ranked George Fox University won the team title with a score of 933. No. 3 Washington-St. Louis (938), and No. 8 Claremont-Mudd-Scripps (943) rounded out the top three.
 
The Knights finished the week with 25 total birdies as a team, not including those that were wiped out when the third round was canceled. Carleton also had 2-of the-10 eagles recorded by the 151-player field over the four days.
 
Sichol finished the week 10th overall with a three-round score of 232 (80-76-76, +13).
 
"Carter played outstanding rounds of golf on Wednesday and Thursday making 12 birdies (6 each day), only to have Thursday's round canceled due to a unplayable hole location on the course," Wallgren said. "Today, she was able to block out all the ups and downs of Thursday. She got off to a slow start, making the turn at 5-over par, but she continued to focus and played the back nine at 2-under par."
 
Sichol had three more birdies on Friday—including one on her final hole of the tournament—giving her 10 official birdies for the tournament, tied for second-most at the tournament. That figure does not include the six additional birdies she had wiped off the board when the third round was scrapped. Sichol played the par-5's at a combined 7-under par, easily the best in the field.
 
Zheng was second on the Knights and tied for 56th overall with a score of 248 (82-78-88, +29). She finished with seven birdies over the three completed rounds—tied for ninth in the field—and played the par-3's best among the Knights at a combined 4-over par.
 
Friday saw Lu (+33, 81-86-85=252) record an eagle on the par-5 No. 7 and add a birdie on No. 16. She concluded the tournament in a tie for 69th place
 
During Friday's final round, Tatar (+42, 89-85-87=261) birdied the dreaded Hole No. 6—the reason that the third round was canceled—and concluded the week tied for 80th place.
 
Siebert finished in 85th place with her score of 267 (+48, 89-88-90). She played her best golf during Thursday's round that was discarded.
 
Team finishes at NCAA Championships team finishes
2015  --  t-6th place
2017  --  7th place
2018  --  t-6th place
2019  --  7th place
2023  --  15th place
 
Best individual finishes at NCAA Championships
1st   --  Carole Pushing Burch (1958) **National Women's Collegiate Golf Championships
7th   --  Ziyi Wang (2018)
7th   --  Ziyi Wang (2019)
10th  --  Carter Sichol (2023)
18th  --  Grace Gilmore (2015)
18th  --  Ziyi Wang (2017)
21st  --  Ziyi Wang (2016)
22nd  --  Ayumi Sakamoto (2017)
23rd  --  Grace Gilmore (2016)
24th  --  Alexis Chan (2018)
25th  --  Alyssa Akiyama (2017)