Long earns 12th place finish in Miami

Monday, March 5

Miami, FL - The Biltmore

Middle Tennessee

Hurricane Invitational

3/7/2018 1:28:00 PM | Women's Golf

Raiders improve again in final round

By: @MTAthletics

Final Results

MIAMI, Fla. – Junior Hanley Long started and finished the final round strong for Middle Tennessee as an even par 72 pushed her into 12^th place at the Hurricane Invitational while the Blue Raiders logged their best round of the tournament at 16-over 304 to finish out the three-day event.

Long got better each day on her way to a 3-over (74-73-72=219) finish to open up the spring with her second Top 15 finish of the 2017-18 season.

Long wasn't the only Raider to log her best outing of the week on the final day, however. Freshman Sophie Burks fired a 3-over 75 on Wednesday to finish in the Top 50 in the field with the second best score on the team at 16-over par (78-79-75=232).

Despite not having its best stuff as a team, the Blue Raiders also improved a little each day to carry some momentum into their nest tournament, finishing up at The Biltmore with a score of 57-over par (310-307-304=921) and just two strokes back of Conference USA foe FIU.

NOTABLES

Junior Hanley Long notched her team-leading seventh round of par or better this season with the even par 72 on the final day
Long's second Top 15 finish of the season was also the fifth by a Blue Raider, as redshirt junior Jenna Burris also has two Top 15 finishes and freshman Caroline Caudill also boasts one

QUOTABLES

"Overall I played pretty solid for it being the first tournament of the season. There are definitely areas of my game that need to be improved, but it feels good to have some great rounds under my belt to start the season." – Junior Hanley Long on her performance this week

"As a team we need to play smarter moving forward to help cut back on some of the big numbers. We have so much talent and potential, but this being our first tournament of the spring kind of showed some of our weaknesses. I think our finish will really push everyone to work harder and we will continue to get better with each competitive round we get under our belts." Junior Hanley Long on how the team will look to improve before its next tournament

STANDINGS

1. Miami                                         +2 (288-286-292=866)
2. Oklahoma                                  +5 (285-292-292=869)
3. Coastal Carolina                        +6 (292-288-290=870)
4. Virginia Tech                              +18 (295-298-289=882)
5. Maryland                                    +24 (297-294-297=888)
6. Kentucky                                     +40 (308-297-299=904)
T7. Penn State                                +46 (300-307-303=910)
T7. Barry                                          +46 (299-305-306=910)
9. Mercer                                         +47 (302-301-308=911)
10. South Florida                            +51 (305-304-306=915)
11. FIU                                              +55 (301-305-313=919)
12. Middle Tennessee                   +57 (310-307-304=921)
13. South Dakota State                 +66 (306-314-310=930)

12. Hanley Long                              +3 (74-73-72=219)
T47. Sophie Burks                           +16 (78-79-75=232)
T52. Jenna Burris                            +17 (80-76-77=233)
66. Cynthia Bounleutay                 +23 (78-79-82=239)
68. Caroline Caudill                        +26 (81-81-80=242)

WHAT'S NEXT?

The Blue Raiders travel to the 3M Augusta Invitational at Forest Hills in Augusta, Ga. On March 16-18.