When senior Cindy Whitmore finished playing the second round of the Big 12 tournament, she assumed she still had one more round of golf to play in her Cyclone career. Those hopes were soon washed away when rain came and forced the third round of the tournament to be canceled.

“It was really disappointing because we were all ready to play the third round,” she said. “It was on and off again, and it finally got canceled, and we were really bummed out.”

The Cyclone women fired a disappointing two-round score of 629, putting them 11th at the tournament hosted by Texas A&M. The Texas Longhorns, the team Iowa State was paired up with for the first round of play, won the tournament by shooting 592. Six out of the top seven teams were from the states of Texas and Oklahoma.

“Everyone played their average game [for us],” Whitmore said. “No one played outstanding. We were really disappointed that we were unable to move up in the standings.”

ISU head coach Julie Manning said it was the wrong time for an average performance.

“You just hope going in that your team is going to peak at the right time,” she said. “But for whatever reason, we just didn’t perform well.

“Our top two performers shot 80s the first round, which was as surprising to me as to them.”

Junior Lisa Meshke paced the Cyclones, tying for 22nd place and shooting rounds of 74 and 79 for a total of 153.

Senior Leanne Owens responded to her first-day performance of 80 by firing three shots better the second round for a two-round total of 157, earning her a 36th-place tie. During the practice day of the tournament, a putt and drive competition was held among the teams. Owens won the driving competition by hitting the ball 319 yards.

Junior Louise Kenney fired a two-round 159, earning her 46th place.

Whitmore was disappointed in her play after placing in a tie for 49th with a 162.

“I was not happy with my performance, but I didn’t give up,” she said.

Freshman Christi Athas shot a 165, placing her in a tie for 51st.

The Cyclones ended the season on a disappointing note, but Whitmore said she will still have fond memories of it.

“I am just really thankful for Coach believing in me and letting me play golf,” she said. “When I transferred [from Northern Iowa] my sophomore year, I didn’t know if I was still going to play.

“It was a great experience for me, and I learned a lot about myself as a person.”

Manning believes this year was just one of those seasons in which everything was a battle.

“From injuries to illnesses to deaths in the family, it was just a tough year for us,” she said. “We had to battle through a lot of adversity and obstacles. There was no doubt that those things affected their play.”

Whitmore said the Cyclones still had a good season.

“We had our good meets and our average meets,” she said. “Unfortunately, this year the average outnumbered the good.”