Griz finish 8th as fall season concludes

Monday, October 14

Columbia Edgewater Country Club; Portland, Ore.

Montana

Portland State Invitational

10/15/2024 6:53:00 PM | Golf

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By: Montana Sports Information

The Montana women's golf team wrapped up its fall season on Tuesday, finishing eighth at the Portland State Invitational. The tournament was held at the Columbia Edgewater Country Club in Portland, Ore.

The Grizzlies were scheduled to compete in the French Broad Collegiate Invitational in Arden, N.C., in two weeks but that tournament was canceled due to the effects of Hurricane Helene.

Montana (312-301-306) shot a 306 on Tuesday to finish six strokes out of a top-five finish in the 10-team field, which was made up of seven teams from the Big Sky Conference.

"Today was better. We got off to a better start and were able to get out of trouble better," said coach Jimmy Mee. "It would have been nice to finish a little stronger since this is our last event until spring."

Montana had a pair of golfers in the top 20. Raina Ports (75-73-78) tied for 12th, Elle Higgins (79-76-73) tied for 18th.

Starting her day on No. 10, Higgins had a stretch of four birdies in six holes between No. 15 and No. 2.

"Elle played well today and got on a heater," Mee said. "She probably didn't make as many putts as she would have liked, but it was cool to see her make a couple 20- to 30-footers."

Among Montana's scoring players, Kendall Hayward (77-76-77) finished 26th, Bella Johnson (81-81-78) tied for 46th and Kate Bogenschutz (88-76-81) tied for 52nd.

Competing as individuals, Madison Cecil (86-84-76) tied for 54th, Hannah Ports (82-81-84) finished 56th and Kylie Franklin (91-83-80) tied for 57th.

Montana wraps up the fall with a team scoring average of 303.

"They've proven they can compete," said Mee. "Now we have to clean up some course-management stuff and tighten up our short game.

"If we can hit some mental-game stuff over the winter, where we can be a little less reactionary, I'm excited to see what can happen. This team has a chance to do pretty well in the spring."

Seattle (302-293-295) won the Portland State Invitational by nine strokes over Weber State (301-298-298). Montana State (305-290-304) finished third.

Seattle's Rivekka Jumagulova (72-71-69) won the tournament at 4-under. Weber State's Isabel Gutierrez (72-73-68) and Eastern Washington's Gabriella Ilardi (71-70-74) also finished under par.