The sixteenth-ranked Aggies continue to own assert their dominance in postseason play, as four of the UC Davis women’s golf team shot the top four individual scores of the tournament. The Aggies once again claim the Big West title, the fourth straight championship they have won in a row.
The play of seniors Demi Runas and Amy Simanton, sophomore Beverly Vantananugulkit, and freshman Andrea Wong was crucial in the Aggies’ success, as all of them shot extremely well throughout the tournament. Runas finished first overall with a score of one-under 218. She shot an impressive one-under in the first round and from there finished off the tournament going even in the final two rounds.
She beat out second-place finisher, Wong, by 2 strokes. Wong, who shot one-over 220 for the tournament played a solid tournament overall. Her best round came in the final round, shooting a one-under 71. Wong beat out third-place finisher Vatanangulkit, who shot an overall score of four-over 223. Vatanangulkit, last year’s individual champion, shot an amazing first round finishing the day at four-under. However, she was not able to hold on to the lead as she shot eight-over in the second round. Vatanangulkit rebounded in the final round shooting an even par for the day, good enough for third overall.
The Aggies swept the top three spots in terms of individual score, but did not just stop there. Senior Amy Simanton shot a five-over 224 throughout the tournament, this was good enough to notch her the fourth-placed finish. Such dominance by UC Davis, with all four of the top four individual scores, created a wide margin of victory for the Aggies to shoot the best team score as well.
“Winning Big West for the fourth straight year means so much to both Amy and I,” said Demi Runas. “Looking back over the last four seasons, it’s really amazing to see how much the program has grown. We wanted to keep building on the successes of players before us, and now we’ve established ourselves as a top program in the country.
UC Davis was superb as a team, shooting five-over 881 throughout the three-day championship. In comparison, the second-placed Long Beach State shot a combined team score of 34-over 910. The Aggies finished with a 29 shot lead over the 49ers. This was the largest margin of victory since the Big West championship in 2000.
“The team had a great under-par round to conclude the tournament,” said head coach Anna Temple. “This really was a team effort with everyone contributing. Winning conference was one of our goals from the beginning of the season and it’s a great accomplishment for our program to have won our fourth consecutive championship. We will take this win in and get right back to work to prepare for the NCAA Regionals.”
The Aggies now head to the west regional site as they continue their postseason play in the NCAA Regional tournament. The regionals will be from May 5-7 and will be held at Stanford Golf Course.
KENNETH LING can be reached at sports@theaggie.org
