Oct. 24, 2014
SAN DIEGO - After a two-week break, the 22nd-ranked San Diego State women's golf team returns to the fairways early next week when it participates in the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown, Oct. 26-28, in Boulder City, Nevada.
The three-day, 54-hole tournament will be contested at the par-72, 6,277-yard Boulder Creek Golf Club, featuring a 7:30 a.m. tee time on both Sunday and Monday, while Tuesday's final round is slated to begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. Throughout the event, the Desert Hawk Course will serve as the front nine, while the Coyote Run Course will be played as the back nine. A live scoring link courtesy of BirdieFire.com will be available on www.goaztecs.com.
Along with the Aztecs, the 18-team field includes nine squads ranked among the top 75 in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin poll, including host school and No. 14 UNLV, No. 33 Gonzaga, No. 48 San José State, No. 61 Washington State, No. 68 Minnesota, No. 69 San Francisco, No. 71 Fresno State, No. 72 Michigan and No. 75 Indiana. In addition, SDSU will battle two other Mountain West opponents in Colorado State and Nevada, while Idaho, Long Beach State, New Mexico State North Texas, Tulsa and UC Riverside round out the list of competing teams.
For the second straight tournament, Aztec head coach Leslie Spalding will utilize the starting lineup of Emma Henrikson (Malmö, Sweden), Sirene Blair (South Jordan, Utah), Mila Chaves (Asuncion, Paraguay), Paige Spiranac (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and Haleigh Krause (Eugene, Ore.). In addition, Georgia Lacey (Del Mar, Calif.) will make the trip to the Silver State as an unattached golfer.
SDSU will be competing at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown for the fifth straight year and sixth time overall since 2004. The Scarlet and Black collected two trophies at last season's event, which was shortened to two rounds after high winds canceled the second day of competition at Stallion Mountain Golf Club. Led by Sirene Blair's medalist performance, the Aztecs came away with the team title after posting a combined 3-over-par 579 to edge co-runners up UNLV and UCF by two strokes each.
Individually, Blair posted her fourth consecutive top-10 finish of the fall campaign last season after carding a 6-under 138, which featured a collegiate-best 67 on the final day, while Henrikson and Spiranac tied for the 13th position at 1-over 145.
Through three events this year, Henrikson leads SDSU with a 72.44 stroke average and has two top-three results to her credit, highlighted by a victory at Colorado State's Ptarmigan Ram Fall Classic to go along with a third-place tie at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas. For her efforts, the Aztec junior enters the tournament with a No. 27 ranking by Golfweek.
Meanwhile, Blair ranks second on the squad with a 73.44 scoring average and owns a pair of top-three finishes as well, placing second just behind Henrikson at the Ram Classic before landing in the third spot at New Mexico's Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational. With those performances, the Aztec sophomore captured MW co-women's golfer of the month honors for September and is listed at No. 61 in the latest Golfweek individual poll.
Following their Vegas venture, the Aztecs will have over three months off before returning to action next spring for the UC Irvine Invitational, February 23-24, at Santa Ana Country Club in Santa Ana, California.