Golf takes fifth at Tucker Invitational
The U’s men’s golf team placed fifth overall in a field of 17 at the Tucker Invitational in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Senior Nic Larson finished three-under par, which gave him a fourth overall finish — a personal best as a Ute golfer.
“I felt pretty good about it,” Larson said. “It was a long and grueling tournament, especially on Friday. It was tough to endure it.”
Despite the dry heat that reached 90 degrees both Friday and Saturday, and the fact that none of the current golfers had played the New Mexico Championship Golf Course, Larson felt his group could’ve finished even better for its second tournament of the season.
“It was a tough course and our finish should help our ranking, but could we have done better? Yeah,” said Larson. “(But) Dustin (Pimm) did his job and Chris Gresh played well, also.”
Gresh, a senior, finished tied for 15th at four-over-par and the Utes as a whole finished 17-over par on a course that no team completed below par. Pimm finished the tournament 11-over par and tied for 48th place.
Pepperdine finished in first place by breaking even. San Diego State, Colorado and Ohio State were the other schools which finished ahead of the Utes.
The Utes head up to Weber State next for the Purple and Red Invitational on Sunday.
Cross Country improves at invitational
Lauren Lewis once again led the Utes by placing sixth overall and helped the U’s cross country team to a fourth-place showing at the Montana State Invitational.
The freshman clocked in at 17 minutes and 28 seconds for the three-mile run and six other Utes finished within 64 seconds later.
Lewis has led the Utes in all three tournaments thus far and is quickly setting herself up for conference honors by season’s end.
Sophomores Becky Mackelprang and Alyssa Abbott, as well as juniors Janett Ern and Kellie Anderson, all finished between the 17th and 24th spots — a range of just 13 seconds.
Utah State had its best finish of the season, taking first in Saturday’s tournament. Montana and Weber State followed, finishing second and third. Nine other teams finished behind the Utes.
The cross country team will travel to Stanford in Palo Alto, Calif., for the Stanford Invitational on Sept. 29.