Decatur, Ill. -- The Thunder women's golf team traveled to central Illinois this weekend for the final event of its Fall 2025 regular season slate, the two-day Dechert Classic hosted by Millikin University. Friday and Saturday's eight-team competition was played over two rounds at the South Side Country Club, and after today's final scores were counted up, Wheaton earned a fifth-place finish in the event. Freshman Emma Lee carded the top score of the tournament for Wheaton, as she has done at all but one competition so far this year.

A squad representing Illinois Wesleyan University won this weekend's tournament with a two-day total score of 666 (+90). As one of four CCIW teams competing in the event, Wheaton finished fifth in the standings via a two-round mark of 734, coming in 15 shots behind fourth-placed Illinois College (719) and a single stroke ahead of Rend Lake College in sixth (735). The Thunder were in fourth place after Friday's opening round of play via a combined score of 363, but the four-woman group carded a total of 371 on today's second 18 to drop one spot in the team standings.

Lee earned an individual fourth-placed standing after yesterday's first round having begun the event with an 82 (+10). The rookie registered a slightly higher mark of 86 (+14) on Saturday but still secured a Top 10 finish by tying for ninth in the 44-player field via a combined tournament tally of 168.

Fellow first-year golfer Abby Crutchley shot an 83 (+11) on Friday's first set of 18 holes to tie for fifth place heading into today's round before carding a 94 this morning to end the competition in a four-way tie for 17th on a mark of 177. Ava Hartnett was not far behind on the leaderboard, putting in a consistent weekend performance by registering a pair of 92 round scores to place 25th in the solo standings thanks to a total mark of 184. Molly Holbert improved her first-day outing of 106 by seven strokes this morning to card a 99 round score and a total tournament mark of 205.

With the fall regular season schedule now complete, Wheaton's attention will turn to this year's CCIW Championship. The three-round conference tournament is set to take place at Metamora Fields Golf Club between Monday, October 6th and Wednesday, October 8th. The Thunder are the designated host program for the 2025 edition and are in line to compete against all seven fellow CCIW teams following next week's break from competitive action.