ONLINE ONLY: Hoosiers finish 4th in Big Ten Championships

IU is floating on a bubble right now, and will see today if it pops or expands. \nAfter finishing fourth at the Big Ten Championships this weekend, IU will wait and see if its name is called for a spot at the NCAA Central Regional.\nIn terms of the Big Ten Championships, IU finished where expected, as it was the fourth-best team in the tournament based on Golf Week’s rankings.\nIU coach Clint Wallman said this finish will leave IU sweating their positioning until the last minute. \n“I don’t know if we’ll make (regionals),” Wallman said. “We played all right and didn’t hurt ourselves, but we didn’t help ourselves.”\nIn terms of individual players at Big Ten Championships, sophomore Anita Gahir led IU for the second straight tournament with her 14th-place finish by shooting a 75, 74, 78 and 75, respectively in each of the four rounds. \nGahir said she was pleased with her play even though her third round could have been better.\n“I was pretty happy,” Gahir said. “(Saturday) was my only bad day, and I’ve worked on my putting to improve.”\nRight behind Gahir were sophomores Kellye Belcher and Laura Nochta and senior Lauren Harling, who finished 16th, 19th and 23rd, respectively.\nHarling, who shot a final round score of 75, said she was happy with her play.\n“This is my most solid ball-striking tournament, and it was a good way to close out my last tournament if we don’t make regionals,” Harling said.\nRival and No.6 Purdue continued to dominate the competition as they followed up their 48-stroke victory at the Indiana Invitational with a 21-stroke victory over Michigan State this weekend. \nPurdue’s Maria Hernandez dominated the individual competition as she finished 7-under-par to beat teammate Christel Boeljion by 10 strokes. For Hernandez, it was her sixth career collegiate victory. \nWith the victory, both she and the Boilermakers earn an automatic bid to regionals. \nWallman said the season as a whole was very much up and down.\n“I think we improved and had a high in Arizona and a low at UNLV, and every season has ups and downs,” Wallman said.