CARBONDALE, Ill. - Western Illinois placed two golfers among the 'Top 10' but the Fighting Leathernecks were edged out of the Saluki Invitational title on Monday afternoon (March 28). The 36-hole event was held at the Hickory Ridge Golf Course in Carbondale.

Western shot a day two 315 to finish at 642 overall. Southern Illinois captured the team title with a 639 while Bradley ended one stroke ahead of the Leathernecks at 641. Western tied with Austin Peay for third and Eastern Kentucky (654) rounded out the top five.

Lindsay Wandrey (Pewaukee, Wisc.) followed her opening round 79 with a 75 in round two to capture third place overall. She finished four strokes back of the medalist.

Claire Gursh (Litchfield, Ill.) shot a 78 to finish the Invitational with a 161, good for a tie for 10th place.

Emily Brink (Quincy, Ill.) and Kristi Tschudin (Swansea, Ill.) were next tying with a 164, 21st place overall. Tara Peterman (Sherman, Ill.) tied for 30th at 167 and Alexa Arent (Appleton, Wisc.) shot 176 for the two days, tying for 64th.

Head coach Lia Lukkarinen was pleased with Western's finish in a tough field.

"Ultimately I'm pleased with our finish even though we ended up a couple shots shy of first place. Traditionally we've had trouble with this course, so to close with a good round in a really good field, was nice. You can always find one or two shots you left on the course but that's the way golf goes," said Lukkarinen. "This will give us some good things to work on going into IPFW. I was proud of Lindsay and Claire during the Invitational, especially Lindsay. She has really worked on her mental game. We'll keep building on our success and keep moving forward."

The Leathernecks return to action this weekend at the IPFW Spring Invitational, starting Sunday (April 3).

Saluki Invitational (Par 72 - 6,017 yards)

1. Southern Illinois (319-320) 639

2. Bradley (327-314) 641

T-3. Western Illinois (327-315) 642

T-3. Austin Peay (329-313) 642

5. Eastern Kentucky (329-325) 654

6. Drake (332-323) 655

7. Toledo (337-320) 657

8. Indiana State (341-328) 669

9. SIU-Edwardsville (342-331) 673

10. Northern Illinois (343-334) 677

11. Creighton (346-334) 680

12. Eastern Illinois (341-345) 686

13. Rend Lake CC (364-336) 700

14. John A. Logan CC (377-373) 750


Western Illinois Individuals

3. Lindsay Wandrey  (79-75) 154

T-10. Claire Gursh (83-78) 161

T-21. Emily Brink (82-82) 164

T-21. Kirsti Tschudin (84-80) 164

T-30. Tara Peterman (83-84) 167

T-64. Alexa Arent (87-89) 176

T-55. Samantha Hainline (84-88) 172 - Played as an individual

T-84. Nerissa Hetzel (96-93) 189 - Played as an individual