Oct. 6, 2004
SAMMAMISH, Wash. - Playing in her first tournament with the UNLV women's golf top-5, freshman Allison Chell shot a final round 74 (+2) Wednesday to lead the Rebels to a sixth-place finish at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational held at the Sahalee Country Club.
Chell's strong weekend may make her a permanent fixture in the Rebels' lineup.
Starting the final round in a tie for 26th, Chell erupted for three birdies in the final six holes to finish the tournament in a tie for 12th with a three-day total of 229 (+13). Chell improved each day of the tournament, carding a 78 and a 77 in the first two rounds on the par-72, 6,192 yard course. She finished with a team-high six birdies.
Karen Sjodin of No. 8 Oklahoma State led throughout the tournament and claimed the individual championship with a three-under total of 213. Sjodin finished the final round with a two-under 70, the only sub-par round Wednesday. Oklahoma State won the team title by 19 strokes, as they had a three-day total of 899 (+35). The Cowgirls were led by Sjodin and teammate Annie Thurman who finished second with a total of 222 (+6).
Finishing in 22nd for the Rebels was junior Elena Kurokawa, who shot a final-round 81 (+9) and finished the tournament at 234 (+18). Seema Sadekar shot a final round 77 (+5) to finish in a tie for 28th (236, +20), Hwanhee Lee carded a 79 (+22) to tie for 40th (238, +22) and Young Pak shot a 77 (+5) to finish tied for 44th (240, +24).
Ana Kostina of Washington State and Johnna Nealy of Oregon finished in a tie for third with a total of 223 (+7). Nealy shot even-par in the final round while Kostina was one-over on the day. Kay Hoey of Long Beach State was fifth with a three-day total of 224. Hoey started Wednesday's round tied for third, but faltered in the final round, shooting a 78 (+6) to slip to fifth.
Oregon and No. 2 Washington, who hosted the tournament, finished with a total of 918 (+54) to tie for second behind Oklahoma State in the team competition. USC finished fourth with a 926 (+62) and No. 9 Pepperdine came in fifth with a total of 930 (+66), two strokes ahead of UNLV. The Rebels finished the tournament with a 932 (+68) and came in ahead of top-25 teams Stanford (No. 20), Cal (No. 21) and BYU (No. 22).
UNLV has next week off and will return to the links on Oct. 16 as the Rebels will play in the Stanford Invitational in Palo Alto, Calif.
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