NC State women’s golf began the spring portion of its schedule with a two-day tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico at the Collegiate Invitational. The Pack finished tied for fifth with a score of 29-over par. Senior Lauren Olivares Leon led the Wolfpack, shooting 4-under par in the tournament to finish fourth — eight strokes behind first-place finisher Mirabel Ting of Florida State.
Coming off of a T-1 finish at the Landfall Tradition, Leon continued to excel in her senior campaign. The Celaya, Mexico native started the tournament strong on Friday, shooting a round of 2-under and then a 1-over second round to move to seventh going into the final round. In her final round, she shot a bogey-free 3-under to secure her eighth career top-five finish.
Freshman Marie Eline Madsen struggled in her first round, posting a score of 6-over par. Madsen played the No. 1 spot this weekend after a stellar fall campaign, with a scoring average of 70.58 — the best on the team.
The first round did not go her way, but Madsen made a great recovery her next two rounds, shooting 1-under par in both rounds to claw back up the leaderboard to finish at 4-over, grabbing a share of 16th place — her worst finish of the season. Madsen finished with the third most birdies for the tournament with 12, but 14 bogies prevented her from going low.
Sophomore Lea Ludwig started the tournament on fire, shooting a personal best round of 1-over par but then struggled the next two rounds — shooting a combined 15-over. Ludwig’s 16-over-par total was the third-best score for the Pack. Ludwig was the only Pack golfer to record an eagle during competition, accomplished on the 12th hole of round three.
One stroke back from Ludwig was junior Vania Simont, who shot 17-over par, placing in a tie for 48th. Simont was consistent throughout the contest, shooting 5-over in the first round, 7-over in the second round and 5-over in the third round. Simont finished with seven birdies on the weekend.
Sophomore Ellise Rymer finished the Collegiate Invitational at 18-over par, shooting 4-over the first 18 and 5-over on the final 18, but struggled in the middle round, shooting 9-over par for a 50th-place finish.
After a decent showing in the fall portion of the season, NC State women’s golf is ranked 45th in the nation. As a team, the Pack will need to secure a few more strong placements in order to enter the conversation for an at-large bid into the NCAA Tournament field of 72.
Next, the Pack will compete in the Daniel Island Invitational from Feb. 24-25 at the Daniel Island Club in Charleston, South Carolina.
