New Mexico Lobos Women’s Golf – At 2015 Mountain West Championships
Where: Dinah Shore Tournament Course at Mission Hills Country Club – Rancho Mirage, Calif.
When: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday
First-Round Team Results: 1- San Diego State 288. 2- San Jose State 293. 3- UNLV 299. 3 (tie)- Nevada 299. 5- Boise State 301. 6- New Mexico 303. 7- Colorado State 304. 8- Wyoming 312. 9- Fresno State 312.
Top Five Individuals: 1- Milagros Chaves, SDSU, 66 (-6). 2- Megan Osland, San Jose State, 69 (-3). 3- Harley Dubsky, UNLV, 72. 3 (tie)- Paige Spiranac, SDSU, 72. 3 (tie)- Manon Molle, UNM, 72.
The Lobos: Manon Molle, 72; Alexandra Moisand, 76; Katerina Jaeger, 77; Ingrid Gutierrez, 78; Eva Saulnier, 81.
By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
Lobo Coach Jill Trujillo challenged her Lobos to change their scoring ways for the Mountain West Championships and sophomore Katerina Jaeger obviously was listening – at least for the first round.
Jaeger went into the MW Championships with an scoring average of 80.9 and knocked about four shots off that average in posting a 77. Sophomore Manon Molle brought a 74.5 average into the MW chase and turned in an even-par 72 Monday at the Dinah Shore Tournament Course at the Mission Hills Country Club.
The Lobos are in sixth place after 18 holes with a 303 total – 15 shots off the pace set by San Diego State at 288.
The 54-hole tournament picks up Tuesday morning and the final round will be played Wednesday morning.
Despite Jaeger and Molle knocking off a few strokes from their season’s average, the Lobos still need to make a rally on Tuesday and Wednesday in order not to be toppled from the MW throne they climbed onto in 2014. The Lobos have yet to slip under the 300 mark as a team and four Mountain West teams went below 300 in Monday’s first round.
“It’s not like we’re behind the eight ball right now,” said Lobo Coach Jill Trujillo. “You never know what is going to happen in a championship.
“We are 15 shots out of it so we need to chip away the next two days and see what we can do.”
San Diego State, paced by Milagros Chaves’ sizzling 66, grabbed the team lead at 288 using scores of 66, 72, 75 and 75. The Lobos’ 303 has them in sixth place – one shot ahead of Colorado State’s 304 and two shots behind Boise State’s 301. The Aztecs have never won a Mountain West title in women’s golf.
Chaves’ 66 was a new conference first-round record and tied the single-round record. The Aztec carded seven birdies in her record-setting round.
The top three spots are held down by the three Mountain West teams that were expected to battle for the 2015 crown – SDSU at 288, San Jose State at 293 and UNLV at 299. Nevada also is at 299. The UNLV Rebels went into the tournament with a No. 20 ranking from Golfstat.com, but find themselves 11 shots off the Aztecs’ pace and only four shots ahead of New Mexico.
The Rebels were a soft favorite in 2014 to win the MW title which went to New Mexico. San Diego State is ranked No. 27 this week by Golfstat.com and San Jose State is at No. 44.
UNLV’s Dana Finkelstein, the two-time Mountain West Golfer of The Year, brought the lowest scoring average of 71.5 into the tournament, but shot a 74 on Monday. Rebel Harley Dubsky shot a 72 and is tied with New Mexico’s Molle for third place along with SDSU’s Paige Spiranac. San Jose State’s Megan Osland fired a 69 in the first round and is three shots off the blistering pace set by SDSU’s Chaves.
“Mimo (Molle) was consistent all day,” said Trujillo of her No. 1 golfer. “We just have to go out Tuesday and make fewer mistakes and turn in a good round.”
The good news for the rest of the MW field is that Chaves is listed as the Aztecs’ No. 3 golfer and likely will be hard pressed to keep scoring in the 60s. But Chaves did bring a solid 74.38 scoring average to the Mountain West links. Her previous best round this season was a 69 and her 66 on Monday was her third round in the 60s in 2014-15.
The bad news for the rest of the MW field is that SDSU’s No. 2 golfer, Sirene Blair, struggled to an 84 and her score did not count toward the four-person team score on Monday.
Trujillo said one of her team’s goals at the Mountain West Championships was to be mentally strong over the final holes. The four Lobo golfers whose score counted toward the team total on Monday – Molle, Jaeger, Moisand and Gutierrez – were 1-under-par over the final four holes.
“We have been harping on them to finish strong and they did that today,” said Trujillo. “We did a lot of good things today and finishing strong was one of them and I’m extremely happy about that. All in all, we got the consistency we asked for, but we need to try and go lower.
“We are still excited about the tournament and I think finishing strong is something we will bring back to the course tomorrow (Tuesday).”
The Lobos have eight league championships with the last two coming in 2010 and 2014. Only the Lobos and UNLV have won a Mountain West title.
| 6 | New Mexico | 303 | 303 |
| T3 | Manon Molle (1) | 72 | 72 |
| T22 | Alexandra Moisand (2) | 76 | 76 |
| T24 | Katerina Jaeger (5) | 77 | 77 |
| T29 | Ingrid Gutierrez (4) | 78 | 78 |
| T38 | Eva Saulnier (3) | 81 | 81 |