Sunday, April 24, 2005

                GREENVILLE, S.C. (April 24, 2005) - The East Tennessee State University women's golf team wrapped up play in the Southern Conference Championships on Sunday, finishing in fifth place on the team leaderboard at the Furman University Golf Course.

            Individually, junior Ashley Barton (Seffner, Fla.) was a bright spot for the Lady Bucs, finishing in third with a score of 225 for the event. Barton finished five strokes back of individual champion Jenny Suh of Furman, who helped the Lady Paladins walk away with the team championship by 33 strokes over second-place Elon.

            While the Lady Bucs were not able to bring home a conference title in their final tournament as members of the Southern Conference, the team did garner several individual honors. Barton and freshman Maria Ringdahl (Oland, Sweden) were selected first team All-SoCon, and Ringdahl also earned the SoCon freshman of the year award. In addition, head coach Stefanie Reynolds was selected as the SoCon Coach of the Year.

"This year we've continued to improve as a program and we have a lot to be proud of," said Reynolds, whose team enjoyed two tournament championships in 2004-05. "All of us were honored by the individual recognition, but ultimately, our goal is to win championships and we came up short of that this year. I think the players we have returning next year understand there's still a lot out there for us to accomplish."

            Along with Barton, other notable results for the Lady Bucs included a 13^th-place finish by freshman Natalia Giraldo (Cali, Colombia) and a 19^th-place finish by Ringdahl.

Southern Conference Women's Golf Championships Furman University Golf Course Greenville, S.C.
Sunday's Results -Final round