The ISU women’s golf team competed in the Big 12 Invitational with hopes of finishing well amongst their conference peers.

They ended the tournament with an eighth place finish as a team, but factor in four non-conference teams that were invited to strengthen the tournament and the Cyclones ended up as the fourth-best Big 12 squad.

“I’m very pleased with finishing in the middle of the pack,” said ISU head coach Julie Manning. “It speaks volumes about the talent level that’s here.”

At 952, Iowa State finished in the middle of the field, beating most of their conference rivals by several strokes. Texas Tech, the team that finished behind Iowa State, was 13 shots back by tourney’s end.

“We beat some teams that we haven’t beaten in the past few years,” Manning said. “I feel like we’re in a pretty good position right now.”

Host Oklahoma State pulled away in the third round to win with a total of 908. Big Ten teams Ohio State and Northwestern finished close to each other, but well behind the Cowgirls. The Buckeyes shot 923, while the Wildcats wound up with a score of 927.

The individual competition turned out to be lopsided as Tulsa’s Stacy Prammanasudh was the only player to finish under par, shooting 213. Christi Cano of Oklahoma State fell ten strokes away from the medalist by the end of the third round. Cyclone junior Laura Wells shot her best round of the season during the final day to move into third place, one stroke behind Cano.

Lisa Meshke, who played in her first full tournament of the season, finished behind Wells in the Cyclone order. The ISU sophomore ended her competition at 238, good enough to tie for 30th place.

Freshman Louise Kenney hit 241 strokes over 54 holes, and juniors Leanne Owens and Sarah Gilbert rounded out the scoring by shooting 249 and 257, respectively.

This is the second top ten finish of the year for Wells, who finished sixth at the Chip-N Club Invitational.

She went out there and showed that she’s one of the better players in the Big 12,” Manning said. “She had some things go her way and she capitalized [on them].”

The women will now get ready to face more Big 12 and Big Ten competition early next week. This will be another chance for the Cyclones to beat their conference foes. Another plus for Iowa State is that they get to see their cross-state rivals for the first time this season.

“We really hope to have a nice shootout with [Iowa],” Manning said. “We’re looking forward to that.”

The Cyclones compete in the Legends Shootout next Monday and Tuesday in Franklin, Ind.