IU finishes last at NCAA Championships

The clock struck midnight, and the glass slipper fell off the IU Women’s Golf team at the NCAA Championships.\nThe Hoosiers were dubbed the Cinderella team of the NCAA tournament after advancing past the regional round despite being ranked 52nd. However, the bottom fell out in Daytona Beach, Fla., when IU finished last, and its fairy tale run came to an end.\nIU Coach Clint Wallman said the Hoosiers still had a tremendous season and will come away better off after this tournament.\n“There is no doubt this season was a tremendous success,” Wallman said. “Even though we didn’t score as well as we’d like, we still took a lot away from this tournament.”\nThe Hoosiers, who were playing in their first NCAA tournament since 1998, finished with a final score of 1271. They were led individually by freshman Anita Gahir, who decreased her score each day of the tournament to finish with a total of 313.\nWallman said Gahir became more confident as the tournament progressed.\n“(Anita) is a tremendous talent,” Wallman said. “She felt more comfortable as (the) tournament went on and made her putts when she had to.”\nAlso competing for the Hoosiers were freshman Kellye Belcher and junior Lauren Harling, who finished with scores of 321 and 322, respectively, while junior Elaine Harris and freshman Laura Nochta both finished with a score of 326.\nDuke University won the national championship for the third straight year with a score of 1170. Archrival Purdue, UCLA and Southern California also took home trophies and rounded out the top four, with scores of 1185, 1186 and 1196, respectively. \nArkansas’ Stacy Lewis, who snuck past Purdue’s Christel Boeljon by scoring a six under par on the final day of the tournament, won the individual national title.\nLooking ahead to next season, IU will return all of its players except senior Jenny Kim, who only competed in one exhibition tournament against Notre Dame in February.\nWith all of IU’s core members back next season, Wallman is already looking ahead to September, when the golf season will begin again.\n“I am excited about our returning players and very excited for the year coming up,” Wallman said.