RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – The New Mexico women’s golf team captured the 2023 Mountain West Championship on Thursday with a strong final round at the Dinah Shore Championship Course at Mission Hills Country Club. The Lobos shot 8-under in the third round to capture the title at 11-under, the lowest 54-hole score in the championship’s history, and post a five-shot win over eighth-ranked San Jose State.
The Lobos entered the final round trailing the Spartans by four shots, but drew close and took their first lead of the event midway through the round. The teams would trade the lead several times during the back nine and were tied at 10-under with just a few holes remaining. New Mexico finished the round strong and pulled away at the end for the five-shot victory.
The championship was New Mexico’s 10th Mountain West title, most in the conference’s history. The Lobos also won the title in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2014 and 2021.
“What a comeback today,” said head coach Jill Trujillo. “They all played extremely well and solid. We had clutch birdies and par saves when we needed them. It was incredible to see. Everybody worked so hard to get to this point and beating the No. 8 team in the country is an added bonus.”
Jenny Lertsadwattana won medalist honors at the event, becoming New Mexico’s eighth Mountain West individual champion and first since Manon Mollé in 2015. She posted rounds of 68-68-73 to finish at 7-under for the event and post a two-stroke victory over Kajsa Arwefjall of San Jose State.
The Lobos were led in the final round by freshman Maria Caparros Levin, who matched her best round of the season with a bogey-free 5-under 67. She finished in 13th place on the individual leaderboard at even par for the tournament.
Lauren Lehigh and Myah McDonald both tied for 11th individually at 1-under for the tournament. Lehigh shot a final round 3-under 69, while McDonald posted a 71. Lisa-Marie Pagliano rounded out the lineup with a final round 73 to finish T-17th at 4-over.
“It was great to see Jenny win,” said Trujillo. “She was kind of up and down today, but I told her on her 13th hole to split up her last six holes into two three-hole tournaments and to be under par in them and she did that. I can’t say enough about Maria. For our incredible freshman to go out there and shoot 67 today, I think that put us over the top. Lauren, after her first two days being shaky, to come out and shoot that number today was a plus. Myah and Lisa-Marie made shots when they needed to. It truly was a team effort.”
The Lobos earned the Mountain West’s automatic bid into the NCAA Championships with the victory. The selections for the NCAA Regionals will be on Wednesday, April 26 at 11 am MT on Golf Channel with play at the six regional sites held May 8-10. The top five finishers at each regional will advance to the finals, held May 19-24 in Scottsdale, Ariz.