by Travis Weber
Daily Lobo
The UNM women's golf team spent spring break capturing its fourth title of the season in the Dr. Thompson Rainbow Tournament in Kaneohe, Hawaii.
The Lobos were the favorites in the tournament, which put a little more pressure than usual on the No. 3 team in the country, but that may have been the most stressful part of the trip.
"It was nice for the girls to not have to worry about school," head coach Jackie Booth said. "They were able to have some fun and focus on their games."
After the first day of competition the Lobos found themselves in an unwanted second place.
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"It just made us want to play better," junior Kailin Downs said. "It was nice to fight back and get the win - a win is always nice."
Fighting back is exactly what the Lobos did. Led by Christine Fernandez' 4-under 68, UNM took the lead and rolled seven shots ahead of San Diego State. On the final day of the tournament, the Lobos continued to pull away from the competition, behind freshman Ashley Rollins' 1-under 71. The Lobos won by 25 strokes over second-place SDSU.
Individually for the Lobos, Downs and Fernandez tied for second in the tournament with cumulative scores of 221, 5 over par. Rollins posted her highest finish of the season at the tournament, tying for sixth place with a six-over-par score of 222.
Senior Katrina Leckovic finished 10th, and junior Shannon Johnson came in 16th.
"It was a good win for us, but we know we could have played better," Booth said. "We played down to our competition, and the course steadily got harder."
Downs and Fernandez said they were happy with the win and their individual placements, but said there is definitely room for improvement.
"The course really wasn't that difficult," Fernandez said. "I proved that to myself on the second day when I shot the 68. I just wish I could do that every day."
Booth said with so much room for improvement, the team is feeling confident about its No. 3 ranking in the national polls and the rest of the season.
"We thought we were underrated at the beginning of the year, and now we are proving it," she said. "We are so consistent in the 1-4 spots on the team. It really makes me confident about our ranking."
With such a prestigious ranking, the Lobos have had to deal with the pressures of being the favorite in recent tournaments.
"It just makes us want to try harder to become No. 1 because we are that close," Fernandez said.
It wasn't all business in Hawaii, though. The women enjoyed themselves by doing some sightseeing, surfing and shopping.
"It was a really nice trip," Downs said. "We don't usually have the time to do things like that. It was really nice to be able to do all that with the team."
The Lobos' next tournament will be April 6-8 at Arizona State University, as they continue to prepare for NCAA regionals in May.
