The Iowa State Cyclone women’s golf team, led by Fiona Watson, finished second at the Illinois State Redbird Classic last weekend.

After the first day’s 36 holes, the Cyclones led eventual champion Southern Illinois by three strokes.

“For more than a year we haven’t been in a position of winning a tournament. We had a chance, we just didn’t capitalize,” Coach Julie Manning said.

“We are really starting to work as a team. You always go into a tournament to win, but we did OK and now we know where we have to improve,” Manning said.

She said she was pleased with the team’s overall performance on the course.

Watson, a Cyclone senior, fired rounds of 80-78-75 for a score of 233 to earn runner-up honors.

“Fiona was outstanding, she definitely has the game to get it done,” Manning said.

“We were going to find an identity for our selves. It was a little disappointing because we were in position to win, and we just didn’t make the shots when we had to,” Watson said.

Southern Illinois’s Jami Zimmerman earned medalist honors.

Fellow Cyclone seniors Sara Linneman and Cathy Matthews finished fourth and fifth overall, carding scores of 234 and 235 respectively.

Manning said Linneman’s short game was phenomenal, and sophomore Julie Swanson and freshmen Cathy Ennis and Megan O’Dea played better than Manning could have expected in their first collegiate meet.

The young Cyclones said they were excited to play but were also disappointed they didn’t win.

“I was a little nervous, but what I do is take that pressure and turn it around and use it,” Ennis said.

“I was almost happy with the way I played. My second round wasn’t good, but on the final day I hit the ball real well, but just missed some putts. It was a good place to build on,” O’Dea said.

As a team, ISU made 24 birdies but also had 28 “buzzards,” a term Manning uses for a double-bogey or worse.

“You try to even those out, they’ll just kill you,” she said.

Manning said she is very excited for the team’s upcoming meet — the Minnesota Invitational on Sept. 14-15.

“It will be very tough. They always want to win their home tournament, but I think we are just scratching the surface,” she said.

After the weekend’s performance, Manning is encouraged.

“I don’t think we are going to have to wait to the end of fall to peak. We may be getting real close,” she said.