VICTORIA, Texas – After a record-breaking first round of the University of Houston-Victoria Invitational, Texas A&M International men's and women's golf teams teed off with an encore in Monday's final round.
The women began the round in third place after shooting a program-low first-round 321, but they bested that mark by blasting a final round 303 for a tournament total 624 – just three strokes behind second place Texas A&M-Kingsville. Tournament host UH-Victoria won the team competition with a 613 (313-300) at The Club at Colony Creek.
Starting the championship round in second place, Begona Aranguren fell two places after shooting a 3-over 75. She carded a 74 in the first round on the 5,854-yard track.
Aranguren was only the first of three Dustdevils women to finish inside the top 10. Abigail Palacios improved upon her first round 7-over 79. She closed the tournament with a 4-over 76 to total out at 155 – good for a sixth place finish. Sasha Linauskas cut five strokes off her opening 81, carding a 76 to tie for eighth with a tournament 157.
Narda Garcia (87-76) putted into 13th place with a 163 and Monica Cue carded back-to-back 91s to finish in 21st place with a 182.
Two Dustdevils – Mitzi Cantu and Arianna MacKenzie – competed as individuals, finishing in 20th and 22nd place, respectively. Cantu (89-87) posted a 176 and MacKenzie (87-103) finished with a tournament total of 190.
On the men's side, the improvement was drastic. The Dustdevils improved from fourth place to third with a second-round 295 to finish 34 strokes over par on the par-72, 6,938-yard course. TAMIU started with a 315, but finished with a tournament total 610. St. Thomas won the team competition with a 16-over 592 (297-295) and UH-Victoria's first team took second with a 20-over 596 (298-298). UH-Victoria's second team rounded out the competitors with a 626 (314-312).
A pair of Dustdevils – Nathan Morris (81-70) and Andres Aranguren (78-73) – tied for seventh place with identical 151s while Luke Begwin (77-77) tied for 10th with a 154. Juan Ruben Gonzalez (80-75) shot a 155 to finish in 12th and Steve Martinez (80-77) finished tied for 15th with a 157.
Morris' 2-under in the final round served as the Dustdevils first under-par round of the season.
Zachary Jackson (76-81) shot a 157 to finish tied with Martinez for 15th and Tony Gutierrez (79-83) carded a 162 to tie for 20th place. Both played as individuals.
Both the TAMIU teams will return to action at the St. Thomas Talamonti Invitational on Oct. 6-9 in Houston.
RESULTS
UH-Victoria Fall Classic
Dates: 09/29-09/30, 2013
Round: 2
Par-Yardage: 72-6938
School Scores
1 St. Thomas - TX 297 295 592
1 Jeffrey Swearingen 73 74 147
T 2 Ryan Lyons 74 74 148
T 2 Stephen Camilli 73 75 148
4 Richard Le 77 72 149
T 20 A.J. Skiba 87 75 162
2 Houston - Victoria 298 298 596
T 5 Vance Edwards 75 75 150
T 5 Steven Jones 75 75 150
9 Nick Ver Elst 75 78 153
T 10 James Walker 73 81 154
DQ William Jake Truss DQ 70
3 Texas A&M Internat. 315 295 610
T 7 Nathan Morris 81 70 151
T 7 Andres Aranguren 78 73 151
T 10 Luke Begwyn 77 77 154
12 Juan Ruben Gonzalez 80 75 155
T 15 Steve Martinez 80 77 157
4 Houston - Victoria 314 312 626
T 13 Jake Gutierrez 82 74 156
T 13 Conner Steadman 78 78 156
T 17 Rudy Trevino 79 80 159
T 17 Kyle Smith 79 80 159
19 William Dawson-Hicks 78 82 160
INDIVIDUALS
T 15 Zachary Jackson TAMIU 76 81 157
T 20 Conner Smith UH Vict 87 75 162
T 20 Alberto Gutierrez TAMIU 79 83 162
UH-Victoria Fall Classic
Round: 2
FINAL RESULTS
Par-Yardage: 72-5854
School Scores
1 Houston - Victoria 313 300 613
2 Becky Benchot 74 70 144
5 Brooke Brasseaux 79 72 151
7 Caitlin Swisher 76 80 156
12 Shelbi Vincent 84 78 162
17 Hayley Harris 87 84 171
2 TX A&M-Kingsville 321 299 620
3 Brandy Rivera 75 70 145
T 8 Jessica Sellers 80 77 157
T 10 Ashley Coy 83 76 159
T 10 Analysa Coy 83 76 159
18 Meagan Cantu 86 86 172
3 Texas A&M Internat. 321 303 624
4 Begona Aranguren 74 75 149
6 Abigail Palacios 79 76 155
T 8 Sasha Linauskas 81 76 157
13 Narda Garcia 87 76 163
21 Monica Cue 91 91 182
INDIVIDUALS
1 Nicki Oesch St Thom-TX 72 70 142
14 Brianne Costilla TAMUK 84 81 165
15 Devon Deuser Hou-Victor 87 79 166
16 Allison Koenig Hou-Victor 83 84 167
19 Lauren Kinney St Thom-TX 83 90 173
20 Mitzi Cantu TAMIU 89 87 176
22 Arianna Mackenzie TAMIU 87 103 190
