“I don’t know if ‘cheated’ is the right word, but we sure would have liked to have finished it on our own terms,” Roope said.
Only the scores from the first three rounds counted, and the Tigers finished in a tie for third — 16 strokes behind champion Rhodes College and only one shot out of second.
The Tiger men, making their seventh straight trip to the nationals, also finished in a tie for third at Midvale C.C. in Penfield, N.Y.
Macy Hubbard was second overall for the second consecutive year among the women, one stroke out of first.
The junior from Mason broke a tournament record with an opening 3-under-par 69 and set the two-day mark for low total with a 140. She had a third-round 79 but was only two shots out of first on the 12th hole when players were ushered off the course.
Junior Maggie Smith was 11th, All-American sophomore Jane Hopkinson-Wood 18th, freshman Chloe Bradburn 57th and senior Allie Lawwill 77th.
“I can say there’s a level of disappointment this year that wasn’t present last year because we were novices to the experience on the women’s side,” Roope said. “But it’s sort of good. It’s nice that the level of expectations have risen to the point where you want to win the title.”
Roope also is the coach for the men’s team, and he had to send assistant Andy Bonar with that squad.
“I was flipping through (GOLFstats.com) and checking the live scores and hoping they would make a move,” Roope said. “It’s not fun for me, but I’m so grateful we have Andy and have such a mature group of men and women that, whether I’m there or not, they’re going to take care of business.”
Claremont-Mudd-Scripps of California won the men’s crown by six shots over Huntington College, while Wittenberg and Washington & Lee were 10 shots back.
Junior Garrett Brickley shot a 13-over-par 301 for a tie for 12th to lead the Tigers, who finished a program-best solo third last season. They’ve made the two-day cut to 15 teams in six of the last seven years (the women’s event has no cut).
Senior Sam Geise tied for 16th, while freshman Isaac Hartley tied for 21st, junior Mark David Wright tied for 31st and freshman Colin Laszlo was 64th.
“They’ve been pretty consistent all year,” Bonar said. “They played pretty well. They wish they could have a couple shots back here and there, but it was a good week.”
The Tigers were nine strokes back going into the final round but couldn’t mount a charge.
“We all felt the nerves for sure,” Wright said. “But if you’re not feeling the nerves, I guess you’re not playing on the right stage. It certainly was an exciting time and a very cool experience for all of us.”
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