By Madyson Montoya — Staff Writer
San Jose State women’s golf shined at the NCAA Cle Elum Regional as it was able to advance to the final day and finish the tournament in fifth place.
The Spartans, along with the other top-six finishers, advance to the NCAA Championship. They are the first Mountain West women’s golf team to do so since UNLV in 2015.
The competition took place in Cle Elum, Wash. The other competitors brought the heat as SJSU’s one-over par performance put them all the way in fifth place after Day 1.
The University of Southern California was in first place as it shot seven-under par.
Freshman Natasha Andrea Oon shot 10 consecutive pars on the first day and was able to top it off with four birdies.
The second day was a challenge for SJSU as it shot five-over par. However, the rest of the competitors struggled as well, which propelled the team into third place.
Day 3 was almost a repeat of Day 1 as the remaining teams all performed extremely well. SJSU shot 290 to end the tournament, which was only two-over par.
What seemed to be a solid performance from the Spartans was not much compared to the four teams that finished above them in the tournament.
SJSU finished at 872, which was four strokes over the fourth-place finisher in the University of Arkansas.
USC completely dominated the tournament as it led every day and took first place with a combined score of 844, which was 20-under par.
Oon led the Spartans and finished tied for ninth overall.
Senior Abegail Arevalo finished the tournament three-over par throughout the three days.
Arevalo started the final day off rough with a double bogey. She finished with 16 consecutive pars and a birdie on the final hole.
This is the first time since 2013 that SJSU has made a bid for the NCAA Championship. The 18-hole tournament will start on May 17 in Arkansas.
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