Beavers Prepared For Rose City Collegiate
September 27, 2015 | Women's Golf
CORVALLIS, Ore. – The Oregon State women's golf team will compete in its second tournament of the season when it heads up I-5 for the Rose City Collegiate, which will be held Monday and Tuesday in Aurora, Ore.
This is the sixth year of the Rose City Collegiate, a tournament the Beavers won in 2013 and finished second in 2010 and 2012.
FIELD (15): Oregon State, Boise State, BYU, Colorado State, Eastern Washington, Fresno State, Louisiana-Monroe, Montana, Nevada, Northern Colorado, Portland State, San Francisco, Seattle, St. Martins and Weber State.
COURSE: The tournament will be held at the par-72, 6,057-yard Langdon Farms Golf Club.
BEAVERS' LINEUP: Oregon State will go with a lineup of seniors Ashlee Pickerell and Chelsea Saelee, sophomores Haley Nist and Hannah Swanson, and freshman Olivia Benzin.
FORMAT: Two-day, 54-hole tournament with 36 holes of continuous play on Monday and 18 holes on Tuesday. The top-four individuals from each five-member team with the lowest scores for each 18-hole round constitute the scoring members for that given round.
TEE TIMES: There will be a shotgun start at 8 a.m. on Monday and tee times off the first and 10th holes beginning at 8 a.m. on Tuesday.
LIVE SCORING: There will be live scoring for the tournament on golfstat.com.
SOCIAL MEDIA: Follow the Oregon State women's golf team on Twitter and Facebook.
NEW FACES: The Oregon State roster includes six players with two newcomers, freshman Olivia Benzin from Tacoma, Wash., and senior Elyse Smidinger, a transfer from the University of Denver, who will redshirt this season.
LAST TIME OUT: Olivia Benzin was very impressive in her first collegiate tournament.
A freshman from Tacoma, Wash., Benzin led the Beavers with a tie for 54th place at the Beavers' first tournament of the 2015-16 season, which concluded on Sept. 15.
Benzin carded a 10-over 229 at the two-day, 54-hole Dick McGuire Invitational, including a solid 1-over 74 in the final round at the par-73, 6,315-yard Championship Golf Course at the University of New Mexico. She was steady throughout, dropping two birdies on the final day after getting one in each of the first two rounds.
As a team, the Beavers wrapped up the fall's first event in 17th place with a 63-over 312-321-306--939. Stanford ran away with the team title, shooting a 20-under 856, to win a tournament that featured nine teams ranked among the Top 30 in Golfweek's preseason poll.
Haley Nist matched Benzin with a 1-over 74 in the final round to move up the leaderboard into a tie for 61st place with a 12-over 77-80-74--231. She had two birdies in the final round and ended the tourney with five overall.
Ashlee Pickerell finished in a tie for 89th place with a 29-over 79-80-83--242, while Chelsea Saelee and Hannah Swanson both shot a 25-over 244 to finish in a tie for 96th place.
Sara Cho of Northwestern, who competed as an individual, claimed medalist honors with an 8-under 211, a stroke better than Mariah Stackhouse of Stanford.
LAST YEAR AT THE ROSE CITY COLLEGIATE: Oregon State shot a 19-over 307 in the final round of the Rose City Collegiate to finish in seventh place at the two-day, 54-hole tournament in Aurora, Ore., last year.
The Beavers finished the tourney with a 49-over 297-309-307--913 at the par-72, 6,080-yard Langdon Farms Golf Club to finish in the middle of the 13-team field.
Chelsea Saelee, who had two birdies en route to OSU's best score on the final day, carded a 2-over 74 and finished with a 7-over 73-76-74--223 to finish tied for eighth to lead the Beavers. Hannah Swanson finished in a tie for 24th with a 14-over 75-79-76--230.
Ashlee Pickerell and Haley Nist each finished with an 18-over 234 to finish in a tie for 40th. Anica Yoo tied for 47th with a 20-over 72-78-86--236.
The entire Oregon State roster, including four individuals, played at the Rose City Collegiate. Laura Hoskin fired a 2-over 74 in the final round to finish tied for 24th at 14-over 74-82-74--230. Krissy Peterson finished tied for 40th at 18-over 77-77-80--234, Lauren Fischer tied for 54th at 22-over 81-79-78--238 and Jesse Hamilton finished tied for 56th at 23-over 82-79-78--239.
Cal State Fullerton won the team title with a 26-over 890 and Tisha Alyn Abrea of the Titans won medalist honors with a 1-under 215.
ALL-ACADEMIC: Ashlee Pickerell was named an All-American Scholar by the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) and selected to the Pac-12 All-Academic Second Team last season.
A senior from Salem, Ore., Pickerell carries a 3.54 GPA in public health. She earned Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention recognition two years ago.
“Ashlee embodies the complete student-athlete, excelling on the golf course and in the classroom,” Oregon State head coach Sammie Chergo said. “Her hard work and dedication to Oregon State is incredible.”
