By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information Coordinator
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. – For the second straight week, a homecoming for a member of the Golden Eagles proved to be a huge spark as junior Megan Williamson led the Tennessee Tech women's golf team to a fourth place finish at the Blue Raider Invitational Tuesday afternoon.
Back in her native home of Murfreesboro, Williamson capped a career performance with a third-round 72 to propel herself to a third place finish and into the Tech record books. She locked down the lowest 54-hole score in program history after carding a 76-70-72=218, the best of her three-year career, on her way to garnering her first career All-Tournament honors.
Williamson's record came just two weeks after fellow junior Madi Everts set the mark at the CSU Wendy's Intercollegiate. Everts had passed another current Golden Eagle, Whitney Robertson, who had sketched her name at the top of the list in Tech's first event of the fall.
Riding the junior's career-week, the Tech squad shattered its previous 54-hole scoring record, receiving great play across the board to finish the fall season with its third straight top five finish. The Golden Eagles rebounded nicely from a first-round 315 on day with a 294. The team then wrapped up the event with a 297 to total 906, breaking the program mark set two weeks ago by seven strokes.
Robertson narrowly missed out on her second consecutive All-Tournament bid, tying for sixth place in the 88-team field after posting a third-round score of 72. Coming off her own 'homecoming' tournament after the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate in Clarksville last week, she tallied a 222 to match her career-low mark set back in the first event of the year.
Senior Maddi Everts tallied yet another top 25 finish in the event, totaling a 228 after rounds of 80, 72 and 76 to tie for 24th. Cookeville native Anna Cunningham posted a solid third round, matching her second-round score of 77 to finish with a 241 overall. Sophomore Lydia Triplett totaled a 244 for the event, wrapping up play with an 84-78-82 line.
Playing as an individual, sophomore Haley Davidson totaled 269 in her fourth event of the year, topping her previous season high from the season's opening event.
The Golden Eagles will now see a nearly fourth-month break before returning to the links to open spring play. Through five events, the Golden Eagles are still on pace to shatter the all-time team stroke average mark, lowering its average to 308.14. The current record, held by the 2000-01 squad, is 315.25.
