GREENVILLE, N.C. – The James Madison women’s golf team rewrote swaths of the record book on Tuesday, as the Dukes took home both the team and individual titles in dominating fashion to close out the Ironwood Invitational, hosted by East Carolina at the par-72, 6,266-yard Ironwood Country Club.

Both the Dukes and junior Amelia Williams took home trophies in Greenville, with JMU capturing its second team championship in as many weeks and its third in just four events this spring. Williams earned her second career medalist honors with one of the strongest individual performances in program history.

Williams and junior Kendall Turner took first and second place, respectively, on a strong 63-player leaderboard, powering a remarkable performance that set multiple individual and team scoring records.

After entering the final day in a tie for fifth, Williams opened her third round with three straight birdies on her way to a staggering 64 (-8) – the lowest single round in program history. All told, she racked up seven birdies and an eagle to offset a single bogey and vaulted herself to a two-shot victory and another new program record for 54-hole scoring at 207 (71-72-64, -9).

Her victory makes her just the 10th player in program history with two individual titles in their JMU career.

Turner continued her incredible 2022-23 campaign, earning runner-up honors as the only player in the field to shoot under par in all three rounds. Her 70-70-69 (-7) week put her just two shots behind Williams, but five clear of third place.

The performance gives her 15 rounds of par or better in 27 total rounds this season, setting a new JMU record for the most such rounds in a single season. She also has five straight top-three finishes dating back to the fall and has finished outside the top 15 just twice in nine tournaments.

For the first time at JMU, the Dukes posted three team rounds under par in a single event, either tying or posting the lowest score in the 11-team field for each round to win by a remarkable 19 shots over second-place No. 46 College of Charleston and 23 shots over third-place and host ECU.

The Dukes’ scores of 283-287-278 (-16) shattered the previous JMU record for 54-hole scoring, besting JMU’s 858 (-6) at the River Landing Classic in 2020-21 by 10 shots. The third and first rounds currently stand, respectively, as the second- and third-lowest rounds ever shot by a JMU lineup.

The victory makes this season’s team just the fifth in JMU history to win three events in one season and the first since the Dukes won six events in 2003-04. JMU has also finished either first or second in five consecutive events in 2022-23.

Senior Kate Owens (71-72-73) and junior Haley Quickel (71-73-72) both picked up top-10 finishes of their own, tying for ninth at even-par 216. The finish marked Owens’ fourth top-10 of the season and third in a row, and was Quickel’s third of the season.

Freshman Maria Atwood closed out the JMU scoring in a tie for 35th at 227 (75-77-75).

Playing as an individual, sophomore Kayleigh Reinke tied for 21st, capping her week of 78-73-69 with the lowest round of her career to finish at 220 (+2), her best 54-hole performance to par since arriving at JMU.

UP NEXT
The Dukes have completed their 2022-23 regular season and will now prepare for the first-ever Sun Belt Women’s Golf Championship, set to be held at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla. on April 16-18.

— JMU Athletics —