JMU takes second place in Dukes Invitational

Dukes' Gooden finishes second individually, Lewis and Langford tie for fourth place in home event

Brian Hall / staff photographer Junior Jessica Lewis chips out of a bunker during the Dukes Invitational last weekend. JMU placed second overall and Lewis tied with teammate sophomore Jayme Langford for fourth.

The women's golf team placed second in the Dukes Invitational that took place over the weekend at JMU's home golf course, Lakeview.

Of the 17 schools from as far away as Michigan that participated, the Dukes only finished behind the Nittany Lions of Penn State University in the two-day event. Penn State's two-day combined score was 611 and the Dukes were 17 strokes behind with a 628.

Princeton University, Yale University and the University of Maryland rounded out the top five.

Katie Futcher of PSU took first place honors after her two 74 stroke performances. Sophomore transfer Kansas Gooden finished two stokes behind Futcher.

Four other JMU golfers finished in the top third of the 91 participants. Junior co-captain Jessica Lewis and sophomore Jayme Langford tied for fourth with a 152.

Lewis shot a two under par in her Saturday round, the best of any JMU golfer for the weekend.

"Kansas played amazing," Lewis said. "She was playing her home course and came in second which was very good for her. I know she has been working on a lot of stuff mentally and physically and to see her finish strong is great for going into next year."

Senior co-captain Corrie Tayman was very satisfied with her team's performance.

"There is a lot of pressure playing in your home tournament and I think as a team we did pretty well," Tayman said. "We really had some people step up to the plate and turn in some good rounds."

Tayman added that nerves played a large part in the team's early struggles, but once the team settled down, scores lowered.

Lewis said, "One of our freshmen, Liz Caffrey, for her first tournament ever as a college kid played fantastic. Only good things can come from this young lady. She is just learning the game and getting so much better at it so quick."

Coach Paul Gooden thought the team played very well. "We would have liked to win on our home course," Gooden said. "But sometimes players try too hard at home."

As for the future, the team had a meeting yesterday and began planning for the summer. Gooden wants his players to take the summer and work on things to get better. He is excited about next year.

He said, "JMU has never qualified for the NCAA's as a team, but I think next year we have a real good shot. Next year may be the best team ever seen in JMU golf history."