In second place after day one, the ISU women golfers fell just short of their goal of winning the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational in Lawrence, Kan., finishing fourth behind Kansas, UTEP and Iowa.

Iowa State shot a 54-hole total of 966, led by Lisa Meshke’s 232. Meshke finished in third place. Iowa’s Liz Bennett took medalist honors, shooting a 230 to lead the Hawkeyes, who only beat Iowa State by three strokes. Kansas ran away with the tournament with a 946, beating UTEP by 15.

“On the first day, the weather was bad again,” Meshke said. “That kind of takes a toll on everybody. We also have a lot of younger people on the team, and you never know how they are going to react to the weather.”

After the first day of competition, Meshke and Louise Kenney were tied for the tournament lead.

The co-captains couldn’t keep up the pace on the second day, though. Meshke shot an 80 and Kenney shot an 84, allowing Bennett to grab the title. Kenney tied for fifth.

“[Louise and I] struggled a bit on the last day. I hit three really bad shots on the front nine that hurt me, but I played well coming in to get back within two strokes of the lead,” Meshke said. “The course was really difficult, and if you hit one bad shot it can really hurt you.”

Jessica Shin performed well in her first tournament, carding a 246, good for third on the team and 26th in the tournament. Karly Pinder shot a 253 to tie for 35th and Christi Athas tied for 43rd with a 255. The Cyclones also had two individuals shooting. Stefanie Nelson and Kendra Hanson finished with 253 and 254, respectively.

“Jessica played really well for her first tournament,” Meshke said. “It is hard to guess what a freshman will do her first time out there, but she handled it well.”

Iowa State will play its last tournament of the fall on Oct. 17-19 in Fayetteville, Ark.

The Lady Razorback Invitational will be the last chance for the golfers to get a win before winter.

“We know that we can rebound and play well in Arkansas,” Meshke said. “We are considering this one of our worst tournaments so far, and we still placed fourth.”