Madison Murr of Cal State San Marcos won one NCAA title and will now seek a second.
Murr, a redshirt senior from Los Alamitos, won the individual title at the NCAA Division II women’s golf championships Thursday at Boulder City, Nev.
Now Murr and her CSUSM teammates will seek the team championship during two days of match play starting Friday morning. The Cougars Thursday slipped to second in the final stroke play standings, finishing three strokes behind Dallas Baptist.
Murr shot 69-64-69 to finish with a 14-under-par 202 on the par-72 Boulder Creek Golf Club course to win the individual title by three strokes over Gracie Grant of Dallas Baptist. Murr s Jaime Jacob (2019) as the second CSUSM women’s golfer to win the NCAA Division II championship.
“I really don’t think this has set in yet,” the 22-year-old Murr said by telephone Thursday night. “I was trying to stay aggressive during the tournament.”
Murr’s 8-under-par second round was highlighted by a par of eagles on the two par 5s on the back nine. She had five birdies and two bogeys Thursday.
Murr was not among the top players when she entered CSUSM as a freshman.
“My coaches have been amazing,” she said. “I’m grateful for them and my teammates. They were all huge in my success.”
But she said the biggest prize is still out there.
“It’s cool that I won this title, but my focus has been on the team championship. We’ve all been focused on the team title. There is still work to do.”
Murr plans to remain an amateur through this summer with hopes of turning pro this fall.
Regan Barton of CSUSM finished tied for 13th with a score of 223. Kiara Hernandez finished tied for 25th at 225. Diana Delgado tied for 55th at 232 and Makenna Cabardo tied for 64th at 233.
Second-seeded CSUSM will face seventh-seeded Central Missouri in Friday morning’s match play quarterfinals. The semifinals will be played Friday afternoon, with the national championship match on Saturday.
Meanwhile, the CSUSM softball team (43-21) scored a 9-1 victory at home over Western Washington (43-11) in the opener of the best-of-three NCAA Division II Super Regionals.
Starting pitcher Jayline Sloss (19-9) allowed one run on seven hits and two walks with five strikeouts over five innings to earn the win. Right fielder Mackenzie Kestler was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and a run scored. Center fielder Czar Fleischman was 2-for-2 with a double, two RBIs and a run. Third baseman Jillian Albayati was 2-for-4 with a double and two RBIs. First baseman Paige Donnelly and left fielder Madison Waymire also had two hits apiece.
The second game will start at 11 a.m. Friday on the Cougars’ field. The third game, if necessary, will start at 1:30 p.m.
San Diego State (37-17) will open its double-elimination NCAA softball regionals at 7 p.m. Friday against Arizona State (35-19) at UCLA.
