Ranked 7th headed to the final tournament of the season, the Barton Community College women's golf team put together a trio of solid rounds this week to finish 6th at the NJCAA Division I Championships held at Garden City's Buffalo Dunes Golf Course.
The team accomplishment matched the 2019 Cougars' placement on the national stage and the 6th time in program history within the top ten placings.
Barton opened the four days of competition with a field first round 3rd best 311 card, climbing back up the board from ninth following a disappointing second round 322 by recouping with another pair of sold rounds of 310 and 312.
Finishing at 103-over 1255, the Cougars bettered the previous program 4-round national tournament best by 101 strokes than the 9th place 2018 season's team.
The tournament team leaderboard had Barton one shot from tying McLennan Community College and just twelve strokes from 4th place Odessa College's 1246. Seminole State College (FL) ran away with a twenty-two stroke victory at a 1201 total for their fourth straight title, Daytona State Collège in second at 1223, and Western Texas Community College placing third at 1232.
For the first time in program history, the Cougars had two in the top eighteen of the national tournament, Yu Wi Chiang tying for 9th with Saya Schweitzer at 14th overall. Following tie break procedures, Chiang was awarded the 11th position for 2nd team All-America honors finishing at 18-over 306 while Schweitzer's 21-over 309 earned Honorable Mention All-America distinction.
The pair are the 4th and 5th in program history under Head Coach Doug Kaiser, the first since Peerada Piddon's consecutive honors in 2016 and 2017 and join Natthakan Teeratrakul' honor in 2014.
Chiang finished day one in 15th place with a 5-over 77, carded consecutive 75 rounds to move into 5th before a closing round of 79 dropped the University of Cincinnati signee four spots to 9th overall of the 86-competitor field.
Schweitzer consistent trio of 79 rounds moved the freshman from 24th to 29th going into the final round, firing an even par 72 on Friday to vault up the board fifteen spots to 14th.
As Chiang ranked in the five of Par 4 scoring and drained seven birdies in the four days, Schweitzer tied three others with 11 birdies to lead the tournament as the team sunk a field third most 30 under par holes.
Victor of the three KJCCC meets on the season, Pornnapa Inmee was one of five competitors to card an eagle on the Championship course in finishing 31st overall at 31-over 319. Inmee hovered around the +8 mark in her four rounds, carding and 81 and 80 with Thursday's 78 round helping Barton close the gap up the leaderboard before winding up her Barton career with another 80.
The first time on the big stage didn't phase Valentina Leyva as the freshman's debut 2-over par stood sixth on the day one leaderboard. Along with the rest of the Cougars, day two wasn't as kind as 88 took a tumble on the list to 38th. Bouncing back with a 78 on Thursday and a final round 81, Leyva finished in the top half of the field at 35th in compiling a 33-over 321.
Rounding out the five Cougars, Andrea Peraza had three consistent rounds of 87, 88, and 89 but a Thursday 96 card kept the freshman from moving up the board in completing her season in the 76th position at 72-over 360.
Barton Scores:
T-9th (*11th after tiebreak) Yu Wei Chiang +18, 306 (77-75-75-79)
14th Saya Schweitzer +21, 309 (79-79-79-72)
T-31st Pornnapa Inmee +31, 319 (81-80-78-80)
T-35th Valentina Leyva +33, 321 (74-88-78-81)
76th Andrea Peraza +72 87 88 96 89 360
Team Scores:
1 Seminole State-FL +49, 1201 (293-313-291-304)
2 Daytona St. College +71, 1223 (300-312-305-306)
3 Western Texas CC +80, 1232 (311-307-305-309)
4 Odessa College +94, 1246 (313-317-308-308)
5 McLennan CC +102, 1254 (319-304-312-319)
6 Barton CC +103, 1255 (311-322-310-312)
7 Redlands CC +104, 1256 (311-318-312-315)
8 Eastern Florida State +108, 1260 (319-313-324-304)
9 Mesa CC +114, 1266 (315-313-314-324)
10 Iowa Western CC +153, 1305 (323-329-324-329)
11 Tyler JC +165, 1317 (318-339-330-330)
12 Wallace State CC +189, 1341 (335-329-331-346)
13 Southern Union State CC +208, 1360 (339-350-332-339)
14 John A. Logan CC +246, 1398 (348-344-338-368)
15 Carl Sandburg CC +348, 1500 (366-370-373-391)
