The Utah Valley University women's golf team continues its season at the Pat Lesser-Harbottle Invitational hosted by WAC opponent Seattle U. The event takes place at the Tacoma Country and Golf Club in Lakewood, Washington, and will be played on Monday and Tuesday, Oct. 16-17.
The tournament is set to tee off on Monday at 8 a.m. PT, for the first two rounds, and the tournament's final 18 holes will be played the following day, starting again at 8 a.m. Live scoring and updates will be available throughout the event at BirdieFire.
"We are looking forward to competing in the Pacific Northwest," said UVU head coach Dr. Sue Nyhus. "Tacoma Country Club is one of our favorite courses and our team is rested and excited to compete. It's a good field, and a strong finish would improve our already record-breaking ranking."
Golfstat recently ranked Utah Valley at 135th in the country, which marks the highest ranking in team history. It is also good for second place in the WAC, trailing only New Mexico State.
In addition to Utah Valley and host-school Seattle U, the teams competing in the tournament include Boise State, CSUN, WAC opponent Grand Canyon, Gonzaga, Houston Baptist, Idaho State, North Dakota State, Montana, Sam Houston State, UC Irvine, WAC rival UMKC, University of British Colombia, Washington and in-state rival Weber State.
The Wolverines enter the competition fresh off a sixth-place finish at the Wyoming Cowgirl Desert Intercollegiate in Palm Desert, California. Ana Raga led UVU by shooting a 17-over-par 233, which placed her in a tie for 19th place. Carly Dehlin followed Raga with a 24th-place finish after shooting a 19-over-par 235.
Justine Lauer and Isabella Lesa tied for 27th place at the tournament with identical 21-over-par 237s, and Keila Baladad finished things up for Utah Valley with a 27-over-par 243, which placed her in 45th.
UVU will go with a similar lineup for next week's tournament, but sophomore Kaylee Shimizu will replace Lesa. Dehlin and Baladad will lead things off for the Wolverines, followed by Raga, Lauer and Shimizu.
Utah Valley placed 10th at the event a year ago with a 55-over-par 919, right behind host Seattle U and in-state foe Weber State. Washington won the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invite a year ago and was closely followed by in-state rival BYU.
Raga was the top finisher at the tournament for UVU last year, coming in 21st place with a 10-over-par 226. Dehlin was close behind as she recorded a 12-over-par 28th-place finish. Lauer, Shimizu and Lesa also competed last year, finishing in 35th, 81st and 82nd, respectively.
Following next week's event, Utah Valley will head to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, for the Little Rock Women's Golf Classic, hosted by the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The three-day event will run from Sunday, Oct. 29 through Tuesday, Oct. 31, at the Diamante Country Club.
James Warnick is an assistant sports information director at Utah Valley University. For more information about Wolverine athletics, visit WolverineGreen.com.