COLUMBIA, Mo. – The FGCU women's golf team carded a team score of 615 through two rounds of the 2015 Johnie Imes Invitational Monday, Sept. 28 at The Club at Old Hawthorne. The Eagles recorded a first-round score of 307 and followed with a 308 in the second round to finish the first day of action in 18th place in the highly-competitive field.
 
After two complete rounds, host Missouri leads the field with a total score of 549 (280-269) for a minus-27 performance. Middle Tennessee and Iowa also have under-par numbers after the first two rounds, while South Florida and Kansas State round out the top five at plus-1 and plus-4, respectively. Despite holding the last position in the field, the Eagles are in close contention with Arkansas State, Illinois State and Mercer with one round to play.
 
With the +39 score, the Eagles stand 26 strokes out of the top-10 and just three strokes behind Arkansas State.
 
"Obviously, we aren't where we want to be after today," said head coach Sarah Trew.  "The course was set up perfectly for scoring and we just didn't take advantage. We had three decent scores but couldn't get that fourth to advance in the standings. We are still a pretty young team and it's going to take time for us to settle in. It will take us a few tournaments for everyone to get comfortable with college golf. The scores at this tournament are so low that we really have to take advantage of our wedges and avoid big numbers or it's going to cost us. I am proud of Sara [Detlefsen] for hanging in there and getting us some good numbers. Tomorrow we have to get out to a fast start and avoid the big numbers."
 
Seniors Mei Khuan Yong (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia/S.M.K. Cochrane) and Sara Detlefsen (Eagan, Minn./Minnesota Virtual Academy) lead the team after two rounds with scores of 153 and 150, respectively. Yong produced a birdie on 8 in the first round with five bogeys and 12 pars for the plus-4 score of 76, while Detlefsen had a single bogey, one double and 16 even holes to place among the top-50 after one round with a 75. Detlefsen tops the team's performers through one full day after matching her first-round score with another 75 in the second go-around. The senior carded birdies on holes 4, 6 and 10 to lead the team.
 
Yong saw second-round birdies on 8 and 14 and finished the round with a score of 77.
 
Megan Blonien (Altus, Okla./Altus High School/Oklahoma State) led the Green and Blue in the first round with a plus-2 score of 74. She recorded birdies on holes 1, 9, 14 and 16 with four bogeys and a single double in the opening round at The Club at Old Hawthorne to hold 37th place after the first round.  Blonien recorded a plus-10 score of 82 in the second round and holds a total score of 156.
 
Freshmen Madeline Marck-Sherk (Ridgeway, Ontario/Ridgeway Crystal Beach High School) and Jean Tyrrell (Leawood, Ks./Blue Valley North High School) round out the lineup with scores of 158 and 165, respectively. Marck-Sherk carded a plus-12 score in the first round before responding with a 74 in afternoon play. The rookie produced birdies on 6, 7 and 14 with 10 even pars to produce the strong second round.
 
Tyrrell posted scores of 82 and 83 in her first collegiate event.
 
The third round of action will tee off Tuesday, Sept. 28 at 8:30 a.m. Live scoring from the Johnie Imes Invitational can be followed at www.birdiefire.com or by clicking here.  Complete results and information will also be available at FGCUAthletics.com following each day of competition.
 
TEAM RANKINGS

1	Missouri	280	269	549
2	MTSU	282	286	568
3	Iowa	282	289	571
4	South Florida	286	291	577
5	Kansas State	296	284	580
T6	Missouri State	296	288	584
T6	Coastal Carolina	292	292	584
8	FIU	290	295	585
T9	Akron	301	288	589
T9	Little Rock	295	294	589
T9	Wichita State	292	297	589
12	Rutgers	298	303	601
13	Bradley	303	301	604
14	UMKC	307	298	605
15	Mercer	303	303	606
16	Illinois State	305	304	609
17	Arkansas State	302	309	611
18	FGCU	307	308	615

 
INDIVIDUAL RANKINGS

T47	Sara Detlefsen	75	75	150
T65	Mei Khuan Yong	76	77	153
T75	Megan Blonien	74	82	156
T79	Madeline Marck-Sherk	84	74	158
92	Jean Tyrrell	82	83	165

 
For up-to-the minute information and a behind-the-scenes look at the FGCU women's golf program, follow on Twitter at @FGCU_WGolf and on Facebook at /FGCUWGolf.       
 
Head coach Sarah Trew enters her fifth season at the helm of the FGCU women's golf team. Trew took over in 2011 and has since guided the Eagles to the program's best-ever finish in the Atlantic Sun Tournament and to 20+ top-10 finishes. A year ago, Trew led the team to several records on and off the course. The 2013-14 squad set a new single-season scoring record with a team average of 307.88, while also setting a new benchmark academically. The team earned a team grade point average of 3.8 in the fall semester and set the FGCU team record with a 3.92 during the spring of 2014. The spring of 2015 saw the Eagles again take third place at the A-Sun Championship, and recording their best team score of the season.