RICHMOND, Va. -- In the team's penultimate tournament of the regular season, the Christopher Newport women's golf team captured a tenth place finish at the Max and Susan Stith Invitational. Played at The Dominion Club in Richmond, Virginia, the Captains fired a 66-over 642 (317-325) over two rounds of action while being led by a pair of top-25 individual performances from
Julia Pelletier (+12) and
Ayla Browning (+13).
As a team, the Captains finished just three strokes behind the host Randolph-Macon Yellow Jackets for ninth while Carnegie Mellon won the event by edging out NYU. The 15-team field featured 12 teams that are nationally-ranked including the top-ranked Tartans and second-ranked Emory Eagles. CNU was 29-over in Monday's opening round and finished 37-over on Tuesday.
Pelletier finished five-over with a 77 on day two and climbed to 21st on the individual leaderboard. The junior from Gatineau, Quebec drained five birdies in the second round to lead the way for CNU. She finished with birdies on the 316-yard par four 1st hole, 301-yard par four 6th, 147-yard par three 9th, 272-yard par four 15th, and the 453-yard par five 18th. In addition to the five birdies, Pelletier also poured in seven pars, but with six total birdies, she ranked second among the 75-player field in total holes under par.
Ayla Browning paired a standout first round with another strong showing in the second time around the track. She signed for a nine-over 81 and dropped in a pair of birdies in the round. Browning sank a three on the 317-yard par four 10th and also drained a two on the 135-yard par three 17th. With her two-day 157 (76-81), Browning finished 24th on the individual leaderboard to give CNU a pair of golfers in the top-25.
Elena Rezac (+20),
Katie Watson (+23), and
Alex Delgado (+28) rounded out the Captains scores after 36 holes. In the second round, Watson and Delgado birdied 15 along with Pelletier. Watson had seven pars and one birdie while Delgado added six pars. Rezac had six pars on Tuesday and finished the tournament ranked third on the team with 15 total pars.
Christopher Newport will close the regular season at the VSGA Women's Intercollegiate on April 14-15.
