Chris Day
ASC Sports Information
“Let’s play two”.
That is a common sign heard around the baseball diamond and now something Adams State College women’s golfer Codi Hegg would like to repeat after the Grizzly junior posted her best single-round and 2-round tournament scores of her career as she led the Grizzlies to a strong second place finish in the Quality Inn Maverick Spring Invitational played Monday at The Golf Club at Redlands Mesa.
Despite playing in windy conditions that battered most of the 28-player field from five Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference teams, Hegg shined, turning in scorecards of 85 and 81 to finish in a second place tie with a 2-round total of 166. That total, a full nine shots better than her former season and career-best, came on a day that saw the teams play all 36 holes of the tournament on Monday instead of the initially scheduled 18-18 format that was to see the teams complete the tournament on Tuesday.
The unusual change, made by tournament officials and the competing coaches because of expected worsening weather conditions on Tuesday, is something Hegg is not complaining about a bit. She and teammate Kelsey McSpadden, who finished in a 3-way tie for seventh at 177, were tied for third after the first round before Hegg shaved three shots off her previous career-best round in the second trip around the 5,821-yard, par-72 course.
Hegg, who had not previously finished in the top 10 in 23 earlier collegiate tournaments, rolled in two birdies and 14 pars throughout the day while minimizing the big scores, that were plentiful as the 28 players combined for 211 double bogey scores and another 136 in the dreaded “other” category reserved for triple bogey or worse that helped create problems for the golfers who averaged 94.61 strokes per round in both halves of the day.
Hegg was even more consistent on the par-5 holes and tied with McSpadden for the best overall scores on the longest four holes as each played them in just two combined shots over par.
Meanwhile, McSpadden led all players with 18 total pars as she recorded her second top-10 finish of the spring and third of the 2009-10 season overall.Those two efforts were more than enough for the otherwise wind-blown Grizzlies to take second in the tournament with a 2-round total of 733 as teams other than the host and RMAC-leading Mavericks also struggled.
Mesa State, led by individual medalist Jennifer Hilts, had 3 of the top 4 and 4 of the top 6 finishers in the field while running away with the team title by 63 shots with a 2-round total of 670. Hilts, who tied for the tournament lead in birdies, posted the best two rounds of the day carding scores of 80 and 79 to win by seven shots with a 2-round total of 159.
Michelle Stripp was tied for Hegg in second while the Mavericks’ Jessica Berve was fourth at 169.
Chadron State and Regis finished in a third place tie in the team standings at the 749 as the Eagles and Rangers both posted scores of 375 in the morning and 374 in the afternoon.
Colorado Christian, playing with just four players, finished last at 818 although Jessica Lauer tied for fifth with Mesa State’s Kristina Casillas at 176, just one shot better than the group that included McSpadden, Regis’ Alex Semanko and Mesa State’s Brooke Jorgenson.
The Grizzlies’ other three representatives were junior Kendall Martin, sophomore Kaylee Moore and senior Caty Mark, representing the team for the first time this season.
Martin finished 18th at 195 (98-97) while Moore was tied for 19th at 198 (101-97). Mark, who contributed to the Grizzlies’ 4-player team score in the morning with a score of 98 finished with a 2-round total of 201.
The tournament marked the first ever time that the Grizzlies, nearing the end of their fifth season, have played 36 holes on the same day. It also included three teams tabbed amongst the top 12 in the NCAA Division II Central Regional Rankings that will eventually determine the nine teams selected for the post-season. Mesa State is ranked third while the Grizzlies are No. 11, one spot ahead of Regis.
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