GRANVILLE, Ohio -- Christopher Newport senior
Elena Rezac put the finishing touches on the finest tournament performance of her career this weekend as she finished the 75-player field in second place with a four-over 149 (73-76). She shaved two strokes off her personal best 36-hole record and inserted her name into the top-five all-time at CNU while helping lead the Captains to a fourth-place finish at the Lynn Schweizer Invitational in Ohio.
Rezac fired a one-over 36 on the front nine and came back into the clubhouse with a three-over 40 on the back. She birdied the 352-yard par four 2nd hole and added another birdie on the 455-yard par five 10th, but her consistency over the weekend was what led to her runner-up finish. The veteran scored 11 more pars on Sunday to finish with 23 in her 36 holes played. Overall, she was at par or better on 28 holes for over 77% of the weekend.
In addition to the historic performance by Rezac, the Captains also etched their names into the record books as a team with the second-best 36-hole showing in relation to par in program history. Finishing at 41 strokes above par, the Captains wrapped up the two-day event with a 621 (311-310). That mark ranks behind only last year's trip to the Montgomery Women's Intercollegiate where CNU finished with a +39 in 615 strokes.
Three of the players who set the program mark a year ago were also instrumental in this year's season-opening effort with Rezac being joined by starters
Alex Delgado and
Katie Watson for a return trip to Ohio this season. Delgado (+11) tied for 11th with a 153 (74-79) and Watson tied for 33rd with a 161 (85-76). Watson's four-over on day two was the second best score of the day for Christopher Newport and shaved nine strokes off her opening round effort. She knocked in three birdies and nine pars in the round including sinking putts on the 2nd and 10th holes like Rezac before adding anothr on the 426-yard par five 15th.
Delgado added ten pars to go with a birdie on 10 while rookie
Ayla Browning matched her veteran teammate with a seven-over 79 on day two. The Leesburg, Va. native closed out her first career tournament with a top-25 finish, tying for 23rd at 13-over with a 158 (79-79). Closing out the book for CNU in Ohio was
Hannah Willman, who improved her score on day two as well. Willman scored four pars and finished the two-day event with a 189 (95-94).
Christopher Newport recorded its third top-five finish as a team in it's last six events dating back to last year. After opening up with a strong performance, the Captains will return to action on September 22-23 in Wisconsin when they travel to the UW-Whitewater Invitational hosted in Madison at TPC Wisconsin.
