The ISU women’s golf team completed its first tournament of the spring with an eighth-place finish at the 18-team Miccosukee Championship in Miami, Fla. The Cyclones shot rounds of 321-312-307 to finish with a 54-hole total of 940, one shot behind seventh-place Campbell University.

Senior Louise Kenney was the lone ISU golfer to place in the top 20. She shot rounds of 80-74-78 for a 54-hole total of 232.

Also notable was the play of sophomore Christie Athas, who recorded a 54-hole score of 237, placing her in a tie for 32nd overall.

“I had about five penalty shots that I shouldn’t have had; without those, I could have brought my score up quite a bit more,” Athas said.

Rounding out the scoring for the Cyclones were senior Lisa Meshke and freshmen Karly Pinder and Kendra Hanson. The trio shot 238, 238 and 246, respectively.

“I shot a bad first round; we all shot better the next two rounds,” Meshke said. “Unfortunately, so did the rest of the teams in the tournament. I guess that’s just the way it goes sometimes.”

Although placing eighth in a field this large would leave most content, this is not the case for the Cyclones. High expectations rest on the shoulders of each member of the team.

Both Meshke and Athas said they had similar feelings about not finishing in the top five and about the two-week break before the Cyclones resume tournament play.

“I think we found out a lot about the team and what we need to do in order to play better in Las Vegas,” Athas said.

Iowa State resumes its season in Las Vegas, on March 14-16 at the UNLV Invitational.

“We’ve worked the bugs out and should be stronger going to Vegas, now that we better know our strengths and weaknesses that we can work on,” Meshke said. “I don’t believe that the break will effect us now that we know what we can do.”