The ISU women’s golf team will be heading to Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, early next week as one of the 16 teams to participate in the 2016 Lady Puerto Rico Classic.

Last week at the Central Florida Challenge, the Cyclones finished tied for 5th place and had three golfers place in the top 20 on the individual leaderboard. Even with the high place finish, head coach Christie Martens thought it could have went even better.

“They played really well in the second round, so that was great,” Martens said. “The last day we just let a round get away from us. We did finish better, but there was a lack of toughness from what I would like to see. Our goal for the next tournament is to come in under par.”

The top finisher from last week was freshman Chayanit Wangmahaporn, who tied for 6th and also managed to earn her way in to the top 100 collegiate golfers, according to Golfweek. This also marked the young player’s best finish as a Cyclone.

She would have liked to play better, but she said she hopes her momentum will help the whole team moving on to Puerto Rico.

“I actually feel like I didn’t do that well in the last tournament, I’m just looking forward to Puerto Rico and to us doing our best,” Wangmahaporn said. “I don’t look at the tournament as an individual, I look at it as a team and just hope to make the team better.”

The Cyclones will have a big task in front of them at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic. The field of teams at the tournament includes some extremely tough competition.

10 of the 16 team competing are currently ranked inside the top 30 teams, including the Cyclones who come in ranked at No. 18. Sophomore Celia Barquin welcomes the challenge of playing highly ranked competition.

“For me, I think it makes us play better,” Barquin said. “When you see all of those people shooting under par you think, ‘if were going to win this tournament we have to do that too,’ so I think that definitely motivates us.”

Another factor motivating the Cyclones at the tournament will be the meet up with Northwestern. The assistant coach for the Wildcats is the sister of coach Martens.

“They’re ranked really well, No. 1 in the country for a little bit this year,” Martens said. “We know their team quite well; we have spent a lot of time with them. I think that provides a little extra incentive to do well.”

The Cyclones will open play for the tournament on Feb. 14 and will play through Feb. 16. Check back with the Iowa State Daily for coverage throughout the tournament.