Oct. 2, 2005

Waynesville, N.C. - Using the 10-under par performance of senior Ashley Hovda, the Western Carolina Catamount women's golf team fired a 290 on Sunday to edge hard-charging East Tennessee State and Ohio University to win the Seventh Annual Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate at the par 72, 5,828-yard Waynesville Country Club. Hovda won individual medalist honors for the second-consecutive year at the event as the Catamounts claimed their fourth-straight team title and fifth-straight individual crown at the annual tournament.

For the Catamounts, the win this weekend marked the third-consecutive team and individual victory to start the 2005 season, which is a school record. Western claimed both team and individual medalist honors at the Draper Valley Invitational and Sea Trail Intercollegiate to open the fall season. Hovda's 134 was also the lowest-ever two-round tournament score in WCU history, and the team's 576 shattered the previous school-record for 36-holes by 10 strokes and each 18-hole round broke the previous low of 291, shot at the same event last year.

Behind Western, East Tennessee State and Ohio University tied for second with identical 581 scores on Sunday. The Buccaneers shaved seven-strokes off their opening round 294 to move from fifth to the runner-up spot on the final day, tied with the Bobcats who dropped one spot after standing tied for the lead Saturday. Xavier, who finished third each of the past two seasons, placed fourth, followed by the Univ. of South Alabama in fifth, Elon, Mercer, Western Kentucky, and Belmont through nine, and High Point and Wofford tying for tenth, overall.

Individually, Hovda tied the lowest single round in tournament history Sunday with a 66, which was her collegiate career low. Her round tied runner-up, Julie Tomlinson of Ohio, and classmate Brandy Andersen's opening round in 2002 as the lowest 18-hole score in Great Smokies history. Tomlinson shot one-over, 73, in the final round to slip into second, five-under for the 36-hole tournament. Shauna McVeigh of Troy Univ., Stephanie Hicks of Longwood, and Ashley Barton of East Tennessee State rounded out the top five finishers.

For Western Carolina, four of the six golfers who participated in the Wachovia-Great Smokies Intercollegiate placed in the top 18 of the 124 total golfers. Behind Hovda, senior Erika Danford, playing as an individual, was the second-highest finisher for the Catamounts finishing tied for 14th with a one-over, 145 (71-74). The 71 she carded in the first round was her career-best. Of those who scored for the Cats, Andersen placed in a four-way tie for 18th with teammate, Malin Fryk. Andersen shot 72-74 while Fryk recorded 71-75 for the two-day total of 146, two-over par, both of which rank tied for 6th on the WCU all-time low two-round scores.

Rounding out the field for Western was junior Bianca Melone, who shot 150 (75-75) tied for 43rd and sophomore Kandy Carland, tied for 79th. Melones score ranks 10th on the historical Catamount two-round charts.

Western Carolina returns to the links on October 21-23 at the East Carolina Lady Pirate Intercollegiate in Greenville, N.C., where the Catamounts will look to improve upon last season's 10th-place showing in the event. Andersen and Hovda each finished tied for 13th at the three-day tournament a year ago firing identical 222.

 1  Western Carolina          286 - 290 = 576     E
 2  East Tennessee State      294 - 287 = 581  +  5
    Ohio Univ.                286 - 295 = 581  +  5
 4  Xavier                    292 - 292 = 584  +  8
 5  Univ. of South Alabama    289 - 299 = 588  + 12
 6  Elon Univ.                302 - 287 = 589  + 13
 7  Mercer Univ.              297 - 297 = 594  + 18
 8  Western Kentucky          298 - 297 = 595  + 19
 9  Belmont Univ.             299 - 297 = 596  + 20
10  High Point Univ.          303 - 296 = 599  + 21
    Wofford College           295 - 304 = 599  + 21
12  Longwood Univ.            302 - 299 = 601  + 25
    Tennessee Tech            298 - 303 = 601  + 25
14  Appalachian State         306 - 302 = 608  + 32
15  Gardner-Webb Univ.        300 - 311 = 611  + 35
16  Radford Univ.             306 - 306 = 612  + 36
17  Austin Peay State         310 - 308 = 618  + 42
18  Troy Univ.                305 - 317 = 622  + 46
19  The Citadel               305 - 325 = 630  + 54
20  Univ. of Mobile           320 - 319 = 639  + 63
21  Univ. of Dayton           326 - 315 = 641  + 65
22  Lipscomb Univ.            331 - 315 = 646  + 70
    Monmouth Univ.            322 - 324 = 646  + 70
24  Tennessee State           350 - 344 = 694  +118

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