Lady Raiders finish 3rd at SBC; Lynch, Munsch-Akers named all-conference

NICEVILLE, Fla. - Behind the strong play of junior Kristin Lynch, the Middle Tennessee women's golf team had a final round 302 to finish third at the 2004 Sun Belt Conference golf championship on Wednesday. The third place finish marked the best showing in the SBC tourney in the history of the program.

The Lady Raiders had a 54-hole total of 930 to finish behind Denver and New Mexico State. The Pioneers defeated NMSU in a playoff.

"I am extremely proud of the way we played today," head coach Rachael Moore said. "In order to get third place from Arkansas State I thought we had to shoot under 310, which is what we did. We grinded things out and had our best round. It was a positive way to end the year."

The 302 final round score went down as the best score ever for the Lady Raiders in SBC championship play and it was all ignited by Lynch. The Tullahoma, Tenn., native had an even par 72 on Wednesday to tie for sixth overall with a 225 to match the best three-round score in Lady Raider history.

Freshman Maggie McGill placed 15th with a 236 after closing with a disappointing 83, while first year player Jenny Kim rebounded nicely with a career-best round of 73 to tie for 21st.

Kemmerlee Pennington (Crossville, Tenn.) also shot a 242 to tie for 21st following a final round 79. Senior Tamara Munsch-Akers (Hays, KS) tied for 25th with a 243.

Munsch-Akers and Lynch were both named all-conference. It was Lynch's first honor and Munsch-Akers third in a row.

TEAM SCORES
** 1 Denver, Univ. of 302 298 298 898
2 New Mexico State 303 297 298 898
3 Middle Tennessee 317 311 302 930
4 Arkansas State Univ. 310 313 325 948
5 North Texas, U. of 326 318 319 963
6 Arkansas-Little Rock 321 329 315 965
7 Fla. International 320 324 328 972
8 South Alabama, U. of 337 324 327 988
9 Western Kentucky U. 338 328 329 995
10 New Orleans, U. of 348 333 350 1031

MT SCORES
T 6 Kristin Lynch 79 74 72 225
15 Maggie McGill 75 78 83 236
T 21 Jenny Kim 87 82 73 242
T 21 Kemmerlee Pennington 86 77 79 242
T 25 Tamara Munsch-Akers 77 88 78 243

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