The women’s golf team overcame a sluggish start to finish in a tie for second with Indiana in the Mary Fossum Invitational in East Lansing, Mich.

The Flashes finished the tournament with a third round team score of 2-over-par, a score seven strokes lower than Indiana’s second best team round of the day. Coach Mike Morrow said the third round performance was one of the best he has ever seen.

The Flashes started slow with a first round team score of 23-over-par. After a second round of 11-over-par golf, the team tied for third, but well off of the lead.

The team rebounded yesterday, shooting 290 strokes as a team, by far the best round of the tournament for any team.

“I think this team has the potential to be really special, and the tournaments are going to keep on getting bigger and better throughout the season,” Morrow said.

Host team Michigan State won the tournament with a score of 32-over-par, four strokes under the team scores for Indiana and Kent State. Senior Kira Meixner tied for second in the individual standings with a score of 6-over-par.

She said the team succeeded due to strong chipping and putting throughout the tournament.

“I think this week our team had a really good short game,” Meixner said. “We all have areas that we need to improve and we all know what we need to do as individuals.”

Laura Keuny of Michigan State dominated the field, shooting a two-under-par to win the tournament. Her teammate Sara Brown tied Meixner for second place with a score of six-over-par.

Meixner’s teammates finished right behind her in the standings, with junior Kirby Dreher finishing eight-over-par in fourth and freshman Martina Gavier finishing nine-over-par in fifth.

Meixner and Dreher recorded the only under-par rounds of the tournament for the Flashes. Both golfers shot one-under-par in the final round, boosting the impressive comeback effort.

Morrow said he was impressed with the debut of Gavier, the first South American golfer to play at Kent State.

“I definitely think that she played really strong in this tournament,” Morrow said. “It was a really good first tournament for her.”

Senior Tara Delaney finished in a tie for 19th and junior Maddi Swaney rounded out the Flashes scoring in a tie for 32nd.

Meixner said the pin placements and the set-up of the greens was the hardest part of the tournament.

“Some of the pins and greens were pretty tough, especially on the last day,” she said. “They came up with some really challenging pin placements.”

The University of Michigan and the University of Iowa finished in the fourth and fifth place team spots in a field of ten teams.

The women’s team plays next Sept. 22 and 23 at the Lady Northern Tournament in University Park, Pa.

Contact golf reporter Thomas Gallick at [email protected].