The Belles continued their early run of success this season with a third-place finish at the MIAA Jamboree on their home course, South Bend's Blackthorn Country Club, Saturday. The Belles placed behind first-place Olivet (334) and Tri-State (356), firing a 76-over par 364, but stayed ahead of five other teams in the conference-wide competition.Saint Mary's freshman Kate Doornbos led the team, posting an 87 (15-over par) en route to a sixth place finish. Sophomore co-captain Alex Sei posted the second lowest score on the team, shooting an 89 to place eighth overall."I was hitting a lot of my balls in regulation," Doornbos said of her performance. "That's more than I normally do so I think that helped."Saint Mary's sophomores Katie McInerney and Meredith Fantom and freshman Joanna Dick, who shot 93, 95 and 99 respectively, also contributed to the Belles' third-place showing. Freshmen Theresa Tonyan, (115) and Caroline Doubek (134) entered the tournament as individuals. Belles sophomore Perri Hamma was forced to withdraw after sustaining a minor injury.A 30 minute rain delay forced a late start to the tournament. Doornbos said the delay made it hard to "get going" after the rain delay. "It did give the team a chance to rest though," Hamma said.The team held on to their rhythm in the second round, maintaining their level of play to stay in third place, just two strokes ahead of fourth-place finishers Albion College (366)."We would have liked to have gone in and won it," Doornbos said. "Olivet has a really solid team this year. I think if we had [team captain] Katie O'Brien there, we could have beaten Tri-State."Without their captain, the Belles were still able to put in strong performances to improve their finish by one place from the last Jamboree tournament, the Comet Classic. "We worked really hard on our weaknesses in practice," Hamma said.During last week's preparations, the team played the course several times instead of holding their practice at the driving ranges.The Jamboree's individual medalist was Olivet seniorKristy Latimer of Olivet, who shot just six-over par for a total of 78. Olivet led the tournament with the top four golfers of the tournament participating on their team."Realistically speaking, the team can definitely finish in the top-3 [in the conference] if we continue our improvement," Sei said. "I don't have any doubts about our team."The Belles will play in their third MIAA Jamboree tournament hosted by Hope Tuesday.
