BURLINGTON, N.C. — Led by a third-place finish from
Ona Lukes, App State Women's Golf opened the Elon Invitational with its best team round in five years and posted scores in the 70s in all 10 individual rounds to place fourth among 14 teams in the rain-shortened event at Alamance Country Club.
The Mountaineers were almost finished with Tuesday's final round, with a chance to move up in the team standings in their second tournament under the direction of coach
Chan Metts, when inclement weather canceled play and meant that the final results reverted back to where things stood at the end of Monday's 36 completed holes.
Lukes made four birdies in a 1-under 70 — her best score as a Mountaineer and the field's only under-par score in the second round — to follow a first-round 74. She finished with a 2-over total of 144.
Jacquelyn Taylor tied for 13th at 7 over (73-76—149), while
Mary-Sears Brown (75-77—152),
Layla Meric (74-78—152) and
Makena Dubois (73-79—152) all tied for 24th place. The individual medalist was North Carolina A&T's Ekaterina Prokhorova at 4 under (67-71—138).
"I'm very proud of the progress this team has shown in the short time we have had together this season," Metts said. "They are a very tough group of players, and that showed in how they battled some very difficult conditions during the event. They never complained about the wind, rain or cold the entire week and just competed so hard for 53.5 holes. I hate that we didn't get the opportunity to post a score the last day, under the most difficult conditions, because I liked our chances to possibly move up the board a spot or two based on how hard that finishing stretch was.
"For the team to go out and play the way they did during the first round, and for Ona to post career-low rounds in back-to-back events, makes me that much more excited to prepare for our next event at Tot Hill. This week was a great building block for us moving forward."
With its 27-over total (294-301—595), App State finished three shots out of the tie for second place and four shots behind first-place Charleston Southern. The 294 score in the first round — a 10-over total on the par-71 layout — was the Mountaineers' best score in a round since posting a 289 at the same event in the fall of 2019. It tied for the sixth-best team round in program history.
The 595 total ranks fourth in program history for 36 holes, last topped by a 589 in the first two rounds of the 2019 Elon Invitational. The Mountaineers tied for fourth in a 10-team field that fall, and they hadn't finished so well in a large field since placing first at the 11-team French Broad Collegiate Invitational in the spring of 2019.
The 2024-25 season is presented by Hound Ears Club. App State returns to action Monday at the Tot Hill Farm Invitational in Asheboro.
