Morgan Stepanek Sets School Record at Chip-N Invitational

Women’s Golf Finishes in Seventh

09/11/07 4:15PM

LINCOLN, NEB - Despite dreary and overcast conditions Tuesday, William and Mary’s women’s golf team posted one of its best finishes in over a decade at the Chip-N Invitational, carding 930 strokes (+78) for seventh place. Texas State won the 19-team event by five strokes over Kansas State, and claimed the individual medal as well as Lina Gustafsson shot a remarkable score of 1-under (212) for an eight-stroke victory.

Complete Results

Sophomore Morgan Stepanek (Guilford, Conn.) not only had the best tournament of her young career, finishing in a tie for second after closing with an even-par 71, she also had the best tournament by a Tribe golfer ever. Her 54-hole score of 220 broke the 26-year old school record set by two-time All-American Mary Wilkinson ’82 at the 1981 UNC Invitational of 221 strokes. Stepanek’s final round of 71 is tied for the third-best in school history, behind 70’s recorded by Wilkinson at the UNC Invitational and by teammate Erika Oldenkamp (Hinsdale, Ill.) at the 2006 Bonnie Hoover Invitational.

Freshman Katie Murphy (Chesapeake, Va.) finished second for the Tribe, closing with 78 to match the score she posted in the second round and move up into a tie for 34th. Oldenkamp and freshman Sarah Whitney (Hingham, Mass.) finished tied for 41st with 239 total strokes, as they shot 82 and 79, respectively. Sophomore Brielle Paolini (Virginia Beach, Va.) rounded out the Tribe effort in a tie for 67th after shooting her best round of the tournament with a 78. As a team, W&M’s effort ranks second in total strokes since 2000, behind the 922 shot at the 2003 Lady Seahawk Invitational; and ranks fourth against par in the same period behind the aforementioned effort (+58), the 2002 Memphis Intercollegiate (+72), and last season’s Bobcat Desert Classic (+76).

William and Mary is back in action next weekend as it hosts the Colonial Women’s Intercollegiate September 17-18 at the Williamsburg National Country Club. The Tribe won the last playing of that event with a school-record 299 strokes in 2005.

Chip-N Invitational
Woodland Hills Golf Club – Par 71, 6,079
1. Texas State 897 (+45)
2. Kansas State 902 (+50)
3. Arkansas-Little Rock 906 (+54)
4. Nebraska 911 (+59)
5. Kansas 921 (+69)
6. Oral Roberts 923 (+71)
7. WILLIAM AND MARY 930 (+78)

Top Five Individuals
1. Linn Gustafsson (TSU) 212 -1
T2. Morgan Stepanek (W&M) 220 +7
T2. Kali Quick (KSU) 220 +7
T2. Sara Wikstrom (UALR) 220 +7
5. Anita Ojeda (UALR) 222 +9

Other W&M Individuals
T34. Katie Murphy 238 +25
T41. Erika Oldenkamp 239 +26
T41. Sarah Whitney 239 +26
T67. Brielle Paolini 245 +32