Battle at the Rock
Cal Poly Claims First Place in Battle at the Rock Women's Golf Tourney
2/14/2017 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
FINAL RESULTS (pdf)
RIVERSIDE, Calif. — The Cal Poly women's golf team, trailing Hawai'i by five strokes after Monday's two rounds of play, overtook the Rainbow Wahine and captured first place in the Battle at the Rock hosted by UC Riverside on Tuesday at the Oak Quarry Golf Club.
Second-year coach Sofie Aagaard's Mustangs carded a four-person 299 total, the best round of the day, while Hawai'i checked in with a 310 and settled for second place.
It is Cal Poly's 19th team championship since the women's golf program was launched in the fall of 2000 and the second for Aagaard's program this season. The Mustangs claimed the Hobble Creek Fall Classic in Springville, Utah, last September.
"This is a great win to start the spring season," said Aagaard. "The team battled through the strong winds in the first round, followed up with a solid second round in more favorable conditions and finished up today with a field-low score for the day.
"Today we got off to a great start with birdies early on to take a comfortable lead to the back nine," Aagaard added.
Leading the way for the Mustangs was Desiree Gillaspy. The junior from St. Joseph High School in Santa Maria finished tied for third place with rounds of 72, 74 and 77 for a seven-over-par 223 total on the 6,079-yard, par-72 course.
"We had a great third-place individual finish from Desiree," Aagaard said of Gillaspy's fifth career top-10 finish and her highest finish as a Mustang.
Mallory Muehlbauer posted a final-round 74 for a 227 total and 15th place while Jamie Binns also finished in the top 20, matching par on Tuesday for a 228 total and 17th place.
Rounding out Cal Poly's scoring were Sophie Bergland with a 77 for a 230 total and 24th place and Jamie Harada with a 76 for a 232 aggregate and 32nd place.
Individual winner was Sofia Anokhina of Northern Arizona with rounds of 71, 73 and 72 for an even-par 216 total and a five-stroke victory over runner-up Martina Edberg of Cal State Fullerton. Gillaspy shared third place with Pauline Welker of Cal State Fullerton.
UC Riverside claimed third place with a 913 total while Northern Arizona and Grand Canyon shared fourth place at 918.
Binns led the field in par-3 scoring at even par while Gillaspy was second in par-5 scoring at two under par and third in par-4 scoring with a two-over-par total.
Harada was second among the 84 golfers in birdies with nine and Gillaspy was second with her 39 pars.
Cal Poly returns to action Feb. 27-28 at the Bruin-Wave Invitational co-hosted by UCLA and Pepperdine at the San Luis Obispo Country Club.
"We are looking forward to competing in San Luis Obispo in a couple of weeks at the Bruin-Wave, where we'll see the strongest field this spring," Aagaard said.
