With the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate wrapping up on Tuesday afternoon, the Ball State University women's golf team finished 33rd out of 43 teams and did not meet its goal of a top-half finish.
The Cardinals started out in 28th at the end of day one and fell in rankings the following two days. The team dropped two spots to 30th place after day two before it finished in 33rd place on the final day.
Ball State finished with a team score of 111-over-par. Miami University of Florida won the tournament with a team score of 40-over-par.
The individual top scorers were Nicole Forshner of Central Arkansas University and Sinead O'Sullivan of East Tennessee State University at 2-over-par for the tournament.
There were a few individual accomplishments along the way for Ball State.
Sophomore Rachael Pruett shot a career and team best 73 - 1-over-par - on the second day of the tournament, which was also the team's best day. She also finished with the overall best score for the Cardinals at 22-over-par.
Coach Katherine Mowat said Pruett was able to play well in the horrible weather conditions the tournament presented.
"It was freezing cold," Mowat said. "We had on every layer possible, and all that was exposed was our faces. The wind gusted up to 40 miles per hour."
The Cardinals were hoping to play in much warmer weather, but the temperature never got higher than the low 40s. Mowat said she does not blame Ball State's 33rd place finish on the weather.
"We are playing in the same conditions that the other 42 teams are playing in, and we are all very aware of that. We were struggling but so were all the other golfers in the field," Mowat said. "Teams across the board shot higher this week than they would in optimal conditions."
The Cardinals will next play in a tournament that starts March 6 in Rio Verde, Ariz. Mowat said she thinks the early start to the season mixed with the warmer weather should definitely improve scores in the upcoming tournament.
"Everyone learned a lot about where their game is right now and I have total confidence and I think [the players] do too," she said. "We will be in really good shape going to Arizona next week."
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