The UW-Eau Claire women’s golf team finished their fall season playing in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship, where they finished fourth at the Reedsburg Country Club in Reedsburg, WI.

The WIAC Championship carried on for three days, from Friday, Oct. 6 to Sunday, Oct. 8.

The Eau Claire team consisted of Molly Lattery, a senior, Ashli Stolen and Allison Chomniak, both juniors, and  Jessica Rudnicki and Megan Glaeser, both first-year competitors.

The tournament comprised seven other UW System schools, with UW-Stout finishing on top.

“I’m beyond proud of how the team played this weekend,” Lattery said. “We ended up shooting three of our lowest scores of the season, and even though it wasn’t enough to clip first place we can hold our heads high knowing we worked hard for every shot.”

After the first day of play, the Blugolds finished in fourth place with a team score of 325, falling one point short to UW-Oshkosh, who finished third on Friday with a score of  324.

Stolen led Eau Claire on Friday, shooting a 79 and tying for third place. Rudnicki was also in the top ten, recording an 81 and tying for tenth place.

Chomniak followed with an 82 and tied for 13th, while Lattery and Glaeser tied for 16th after each shooting an 83.

After the second day of play on Saturday, the Blugolds remained in fourth place with a team score of 329 to bring their two-round total to 654.

UW-Stout remained in first place, scoring 309 with a combined score of 628.

Chomniak had a strong day for the Blugolds, shaving five strokes off Friday’s round. Her 77 brought her total to 159 where she jumped from a tie for 13th to a tie for seventh overall.

Stolen and Rudnicki followed in 13th and 14th place shooting an 84 (163) and 83 (164), respectively.

Also on Saturday, Lattery was in 22nd place after recording an 85 (168) and Glaeser tied for 24th with an 89 (172).

Head Coach Mike Greer said he was impressed with the team’s play overall in the championship.

“I thought the team played very well this weekend at the WIAC conference championship,” Greer said.  “The team took a big step forward this weekend with their solid and consistent golf they played.”

On the third and final day of the WIAC Championship, the Blugolds finished fourth overall, scoring a 329 on Sunday with an overall score of 983.

UW-Whitewater strived forward and took the team title with an overall score of 942, bumping down UW-Stout to second place with an overall score of 959.

“Overall, I think the team did good on staying positive and grinding,” Stolen said.  “We didn’t worry about what the other teams were doing, we just focused on ourselves.”

All five Blugolds finished in the top 25, with Chomniak leading the way. She shot an 81 on Sunday to finish at 240, jumping from 13th place to finish in ninth.

Stolen and Rudnicki also shot 81s on Sunday, finishing in 13th (244) and 14th (245) places, respectively.

Greer said he was especially impressed with Chomniak and Rudnicki over the weekend.

“Junior Allison Chomniak was the low Blugold individual finisher, taking ninth place,” Greer said. “I was also extremely impressed with freshman Jessica Rudnicki’s play, shooting her lowest three scores as a Blugold golfer.”

Lattery and Glaeser each tallied an 86, with Lattery finishing in a tie for 18th (254) and Glaeser finishing tied for 25th (258).

Stolen said she thought the fall season was a good one.

“There were some ups and downs, but overall I think every player should be pleased with how they played this season and especially how we did in the conference tournament,” Stolen said. “We have a lot of work to do to get ready for the spring season and I think we are all ready to show people the potential we have to be extremely good.”

The WIAC Championship wrapped up the fall season for the Blugolds. They will return to the course this coming spring.