Amari Avery of USC claimed her second straight victory and again led the 10th-ranked Trojans to victory, this one by 36 strokes over arch-rival UCLA to successfully defend their title in The Gold Rush at Old Ranch Country Club in Seal Beach.
The Trojans posted a score of 288-289-286—863, 1-under-par, followed by the Bruins at 298-306-295—889 and Hawaii at 297-305-301—903, while Pepperdine totaled 304-312-298—914 to tie for fourth with Fresno State, which wound up at 304-306-304—914.
USC set a school record with its 36-stroke margin, two better than the score the Trojans recorded while winning at Old Ranch last year.
“This was an insanely good week for a group that has worked really hard and really smart to get here,” said USC Coach Justin Silverstein, who claimed his 16th title as coach of the Trojans. “They should be very proud of themselves for how they handled this difficult golf course this week and how they performed during this three tournament stretch we just played.”
USC also finished second in the Pac-12 Preview.
Long Beach State was sixth at 314-310-303—927, followed by Sam Houston State at 318-310-305—933, Cal State San Marcos at 302-316-324—942, New Mexico State at 316-321- 308—935, Northern Illinois at 322-323-309—954, Wyoming at 330-317-316—963 and Cal State Northridge at 323-328-327—978.
Avery, a freshman from Riverside playing in her third event since enrolling at USC during the semester break, posted a score of 69-74-68—211, 5-under, while her teammate Katherine Muzi, who won the Pac-12 Preview, was second at 70-75-72—217, followed by Momo Sugiyama of Hawaii at 75-73-70—218, and Cindy Kou of USC at 73-74-72—219.
“Amari’s back-to-back wins have been very fun to watch and the best is yet to come for her as a Trojan golfer,” Silverstein said. “This group needs to get some rest and then we will start preparing for our next event which is a semi-home game (in the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge) at Palos Verdes Golf Club.”
Alessia Nobilio of UCLA shot 72-76-73—221 to tie for fifth with her Bruin teammate Caroline Canales, who finished at 71-77-73—221, while Jennifer Herbst of Sam Houston State was seventh at 75-74-73—222.
Brianna Navarossa of USC totaled 76-73-74—223 to tie for eighth with her Trojan teammate Michalea Morard, who wound up at 79-68-76—223, while Lion Higo of Pepperdine shot 77-75-73—225 to tie for 10th with her Waves teammates Lauren Gomez, who finished at 75-77-73—225, and Megan Dennis, who came in at 75-74-76—225.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion USC was Christine Wang in a tie for 26th at 77-80-75—232.
For complete results, visit https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=team&tid=24176
