Kendallville, Ind. – The Wheaton College women's golf team opened the 2009 fall season by taking fifth place at the two-day University of St. Francis (Ind.) Invitational on Tuesday.

The nine-team invite was played at Noble Hawk Golf Links on Monday and at Cobblestone Golf Course on Tuesday. Bethel College won the tournament via tiebreaker with a final score of 643 (335-308). Host team St. Francis took second with a score of 321-322-643. They were followed by Marian College A team (327-318-645), Madonna University (349-340-689), Wheaton (366-326-692), University of Northwestern Ohio (363-368-731), Indiana Tech (375-361-736), Davenport University (382-366-748) and the Marian B team (375-385-760).

Marian's Angela Gauck took individual medalist honors with rounds of 76 and 73 for a final score of 149.

For Wheaton's team scorers, Casi Blanton led the way with an 85-80-165, which tied her for a ninth-place finish. Brittany Bronson shot 87-80-167 to take 12th place. Debby Bouzeos carded a 91-83-174, Rachel Beveridge added 103-83-186 and Sarah Moore shot 103-99-202.

The Thunder also brought four individuals, which included Kate Ryan (90-95-185), Rachel Carlson (96-97-193), Ellie Moore (105-99-204) and Michelle Morency (117-120-237).

Wheaton head coach Jay Martin said the team made a 40-stroke improvement from the previous day because the team played a different course at Cobblestone and got the first day of competition out of the way.
"We settled in and we got a more realistic performance out of our golfers," Martin said. "Playing against some top-notch NAIA scholarship teams is tough. But today's scores are much more indicative of the level of play that we expect to produce."

Martin said the course at Noble Hawk was very difficult and had some of the fastest greens he's seen on the first day of competition.
“The girls felt like it was the toughest course they've encountered in collegiate play,” Martin said. “It's the first tournament of the year at an unfamiliar location, and it was reflected in the scores.”

The Thunder women's golf team will continue its season at 9:00 AM on Friday at the Robert Morris Fall Classic.