On Sept. 20 Mercyhurst University’s Women’s golf team traveled to Pataskala, Ohio to participate in the Ohio Dominican Invitational.

A two-day, invite-only tournament held at the Cumberland Trail Golf Club, the Ohio Dominican tournament was located just minutes east of downtown Columbus, OH.Junior Claire Orr said, “We’ve never been to this tournament before, so getting to know the course was challenging.”

Mercyhurst placed thirteenth out of sixteen competing institutions with a total score of 651 (335-316). The top three teams consisted of Tiffin University (602), Ferris State University (604) and Gan-non University (609). “Ohio Dominican University’s course has a lot of challenging holes and tested a lot of our shots,” Orr said.

All of the teams played five players and the top four players scores are counted in the school’s total team score. Many of the schools also had a player in the individual bracket with 92 other women. The Mercyhurst Lakers’ team score was led by Orr (152, 79-73), followed by seniors Bridget Merten (164, 84-80), Abigail Vietmeier (165, 82-83) and Michaela Thomas (170, 90-80).Senior Victoria Ortiz’s score (179, 93-86) did not affect Mercyhurst’s overall team score.

Freshman Kymberly Henry played as an individual against 92 others and tied for twenty-third with a final score of 156 (81-75). To compare, Josie Townsend from Lake Erie College ranked 92nd and shot 226 (120-106) in the individual ranking and overall leaderboard.

On Sept. 21 the Lakers’ score was led by Orr who birdied two holes, double bogeyed another hole, and bogeyed seven holes leading to a score of 79. Orr said, “Our first day was a slow start for us, but we were able to come back the second day and everyone was able to improve.”

Orr also led the team’s score on the second day with birdieing one hole and bogeying two holes with a score of 73. There is also a leaderboard that ranks players from both the team and individual players in one big ranking of who did the best. Christina Williams from Malone University came in at first shooting 139 (71-68). Orr placed in the top ten coming in at ninth place right behind Alyssa Wrozier from the University of Charleston (151, 76-75).

“It’s always more difficult to score well in more competitive tournaments like ODU’s [Ohio Dominican University], so I was really happy with how I played and how our team improved on Sunday,” said Orr. The Lakers are next on the green at the Findlay Invitational Oct. 7-8. That will be the last competition before the Lakers are set to compete at the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) tournament Oct. 18-20.