EDMOND, Okla.—Southern Nazarene Women's Golf hosted the annual Diffee Ford Lincoln Invitational on Monday and Tuesday at Kickingbird Golf Club in Edmond. The Crimson Storm placed 15th as a team, edging Fort Hays State by eight strokes.
Chilly temperatures and high winds made for challenging conditions for all players. Play was delayed one hour on Tuesday due to heavy rains overnight. Southwestern Oklahoma State navigated through the difficult conditions to claim a team title at 604 (+44) as a team. Southern Arkansas's Aubrey Marx and Northwestern Oklahoma State's Agathe Lacoste shared the individual title at 6-over. Marx ultimately defeated Lacoste on the second playoff hole.
Freshman, Riley Rinner led the Crimson Storm for the first time in her collegiate career. She shot a 77 in round one and an 83 in round two to finish with a T-51 placing. She finished the tournament in the top-10 for par-4 scoring at 4-over.
Natalie Lewis had a great round two, climbing 12 spots on the leaderboard to finish T-67. She followed an 87 in round one with a 79 in round two.
Haley Whittern also climbed the leaderboard on day two. She moved up eight spots to finish T71. Like Lewis, she shot an 87 in round one, but improved to an 80 in round two. During round two, she strung together an impressive streak of eight straight pars.
Esther Santos followed an 84 in round one with a 91 in round two. She finished 83rd in the field.
Darci DeWitt rounded out the SNU lineup, placing 91st in the field.
Next week, SNU will head to Arkansas for the Arkansas Collegiate at Mystic Creek Golf Club. The Storm have three tournaments remaining to prepare for the Great American Conference tournament April 21-23.
