By: Brandon Taylor, Assistant Sports Information Director
PRESCOTT, Ariz. --- The Biola Eagles finished with three student-athletes in the top four of the individual leaderboard and wrapped up the ERAU Co-Ed Invitational with a 303 on Tuesday to win the tournament for the second year in a row.
Head Coach
Jane Carr's group finished with a score of 910 over three rounds, beating the field by 17 strokes and improving on their winning effort from last year by 14 shots. Junior
Tori Roeske and junior
Jules Loibl paced the Eagles with individual scores of 224 and second-place finishes while
Alexis Gopfert and
Sophia Karnazes were just behind them in fourth and eighth-place, respectively.
Loibl provided the punctuation mark for the Eagles' victory on Tuesday, turning in the best round of the day with a one-under 71. That mark was five strokes better than her previous best at the tournament and propelled her up into a second-place tie with Roeske, who played the role of front-runner all three rounds. The Westlake Village, California native made four birdies on Tuesdy to keep her score under 80 at +5 (77) and finished with the best-three round tournament of her career with a 224.
"Jules has been knocking on the door to get in red numbers since she joined this team and today was her day," commented Coach Carr after the third round. "She is one of the fiercest competitors I know. She gets in her own zone on the course and fights for every shot. She is willing to take risks and can scramble like no other."
Karnazes also turned in her best performance at Antelope Hills North on Tuesday with a 76 to move her up one spot into eighth place among individuals. Her overall score of 234 in an eight-shot improvement from her first appearance at the ERAU Co-Ed Invitational a year ago and is a career best through 54 holes in her two-year collegiate career.
The team win for Biola marks the third team victory in non-dual-match formats under Head Coach
Jane Carr and sets a new record for the program with the three round team score of 910.
Those accomplishments are cause for a short break for the Eagles before they fly out to Florida to participate in the NCCAA National Championships in Palm Coast. The three-day tournament begins Monday Oct. 22.
