THE WOODLANDS — Nikki Long posted her sixth career top-five finish to lead the UTSA women's golf team to ninth place at The Dickson, which concluded on Tuesday at The Woodlands Country Club's Tournament Course (par 72/6,392 yards).
Long fired a 4-under-par 212 to tie for fifth place — her second top-five showing in the last three tournaments — and finish ahead of 15 nationally ranked players in the 90-person field.
After opening the 54-hole event with a 2-under 70 on Monday morning, the junior recorded her second straight 71 on Tuesday, a round that featured three of her team-high 10 birdies. The San Antonio native shared fifth place with the nation's 11th-ranked player, Pimnipa Panthong of Kent State, and they were just one shot behind Tulsa's Greta Bruner and two back of SMU's Brigitte Dunne.
Behind Long, the Roadrunners placed ninth in the 16-team field that featured nine nationally ranked squads. UTSA carded a 21-over 885 (297-290-298) to finish four strokes in front of Houston (889), five ahead of Texas State (890) and 12 better than No. 39 UNLV (897).
Becky McGeehan was the Birds' second-highest finisher, tying for 35th with a 223 (74-75-74). The junior from Germany recorded seven birdies during the event.
Aimee Ponte was one shot behind McGeehan with a 224 (75-70-79), which put her in a tie for 40th. Julie Houston carded a 226 (78-74-74) to tie for 51st and Madison Kidd was 78th with a 239 (80-78-81).
No. 3 Florida State captured the team title with a 21-under 843 behind individual medalist Morgane Metraux's 14-under 202 (69-66-67). No. 10 Kent State was the runner-up (867), followed by 30th-ranked TCU (868), No. 17 Texas A&M (869), No. 35 Texas Tech (872), No. 42 SMU (875), 18th-ranked Purdue (880) and No. 23 Oklahoma (882).
The Roadrunners will return to action from March 13-14 when they travel to St. George, Utah, for the BYU at Entrada Classic.
