Knights Take Home Season-Opening Win at IWU Invite

West Lafayette, Ind. - The Marian women's golf team picked up where they left off a season ago, as they finished their first tournament of the season on Tuesday afternoon. The fourth-ranked Knights earned a 54-hole win at the IWU Rohrman Invite, hosted at Kampen GC on the campus of Purdue University, while Emma Weiler paced Marian as the runner-up in the field.

The Knights earned wins over four top-25 teams as they completed play on Tuesday, defeating No. 13 Indiana Wesleyan, No. 17 Pikeville, No. 11 Cumberlands, and No. 22 Cumberland. Marian scored a 943 as a team with round scores of 321, 307, and 315, defeating the Wildcats by 12 strokes. UPike finished third, with the Patriots in fourth and the Pheonix in fifth. Saint Mary of the Woods, UT Southern, Indiana Wesleyan B-team, and Campbellsville rounded out the field of nine teams.

Marian trailed Indiana Wesleyan by five strokes after Monday's round one, but rebounded nicely in the second round, firing a tournament-best 307 to take the lead on the field. Marian then outplayed the field and the host Wildcats on Tuesday, defeating Indiana Wesleyan by one stroke on the team score to seal their 12-shot win. Marian went 7-0 overall in the event.

Individually, Emma Weiler finished second overall with a 232 score, as she climbed the leaderboard in both the second and third rounds to take the runner-up spot. Emma Weiler shot an 81 in the opening round, before scoring a 76 and a 75 to complete the tournament. Keara Eder finished in a tie for fifth with teammate Maria Kennard, as each Knight scored a total of 238. Eder finished her tournament with scores of 80, 77, and 81, while Kennard had scores of 77, 73, and 88. Jordan Adam rounded out the scoring for the lineup, shooting a 240 overall in her eighth-place finish. Adam scored an 83 and 81 on Monday, before finishing with a 76 on Tuesday. 

Hailey Kirkland was the final member of the lineup, shooting a 247 and finishing 20th overall. Kirkland scored an 83 in rounds one and three, while carding an 81 in round two. Addyson Weiler played as an individual in her first collegiate tournament and scored a 256 overall, finishing 29th. Weiler shot a 95 in round one before recovering with an 83 and 78. 

Marian competes next Monday and Tuesday in Florida, traveling to West Palm Beach to compete in the Keiser Seahawk Shootout.

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