The No. 16 Lee women's golf team opened the spring season in style capturing the Converse Spring Invite Team Championship with rounds of 304 on Monday and a final round 315 Tuesday afternoon from the Carolina Country Club.
Sam Burrus and Annika Gino paced the Lady Flames effort and finished tied for fifth. Burrus, a senior all-two-time all-conference performer fired rounds of 77-78-155. Gino, who was a second team all-conference selection a year ago, carded a 76-79 for a 155 total.
Following one-stroke behind was Haverly Harrold whose first round 74 placed her in second in the individual competition but a final round 82 forced the sophomore to settle for eighth place.
Caroline Moore, who last season became the first NCAA All-American in the program's history ended tied for ninth with a 77 and 81. Anne Hedegaard bounced back in a big way for Lee and posted the team's low round of the day with a 77 after shooting an opening round 82. Her 15-over-par was good enough for 15th place finish.
Lee held a comfortable 18-shot lead on the nine-team field after round one with a 304. Despite a slow start on the front nine the Lady Flames bounced back on the final nine to cruise to a comfortable 23-shot victory.
"It's always nice to pick up a win, but this week was always going to be about more than that. It was going to provide a gauge for where we're at right now and allow us to get a couple of early tournament rounds in," said head coach John Maupin, now in his 10th year as the Lee golf coach. "As a team we're pretty disappointed in today's round. We didn't execute well on the front nine, and we had everyone fighting from behind early. We did bounce back better on the back nine. We'll do our best to use this week to get better prepared for our next one."
Host Converse College turned in the low team round of the day with a 310 to shoot up to second place with a 642 total. Anderson University followed in third place while Catawba and Erskine rounded out the top five.
Limestone's Reme Cortez carded a 1-over-par 145 to cruise to the medalist title a full seven shots clear of runners-up Tyler Dawson (Converse) and Rachel McMahan (Trevecca) who turned in a 152.
The Lady Flames will get back on the links on Mar. 5-6 as they head to Windermere, Fla. to partake in the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational hosted by Rollins College.