Hoosiers splash home 6th in Big Ten Tournament

The IU women's golf team rode a pair of top-10 finishes, which made for a solid weekend for the Hoosiers, who finished sixth at the Big Ten Championships. The championships were held in Bloomington for the first time since 1966.\nThe weekend also served as a culmination of sophomore Elaine Harris' spring season, a player who had been improving each tournament. Harris, whose season was highlighted by a season-low 228 at the UNLV Spring Invitational, scored a 295. Her four rounds of sub-80 golf had the Hoosiers in striking position the whole weekend, but they couldn't catch Purdue, who won with a four-day team score of 1,179. The Hoosiers, with a 1,214, were only two shots behind fifth-placed Northwestern.\nRain plagued the event all weekend, but the Hoosiers made the most of it. Outside Harris, there were still plenty of highlights -- most notably Shannon Johnson, who was named to the All-Big Ten team.\n"I just can't say enough about Shannon," IU coach Clint Wallman said in a statement. "She deserved a first-team selection. I think she had an outstanding year and possibly one of best in school history. We are going to miss her. Aside from her performance week-in and week-out, she was a great leader and mentor for the girls."\nJohnson fired four quality rounds and finished tied for eighth after consecutive rounds of 75, 72, 79 and 79. \nThe other Hoosiers who chipped in to give the team a 72-hole mark of 1,214 (300-292-301-321), the fifth-best ever, were freshmen Tara Boone and Amber Lindgren, junior Jenny Kim and senior Katie Carlson. As well as the aforementioned record, the cream and crimson also made its way into the record books with the sixth-best 18-hole mark (292), seventh-best 36-hole mark (592) and fifth-lowest 54-hole mark (893) in program history.\nBoone was stellar in the first three rounds as she stroked rounds of 74, 77 and 75. Kim had 82 and 75 followed by rounds of 78 and 82. Carlson was consistent as she fired consecutive rounds of 80, 82, 81 and 82. \nWith their regular season now finished, IU will wait to see if it is selected to participate in the NCAA Tournament. May 1 is the selection date.