April 17, 2005
EAST HAMPTON, N.Y. -- In just its second year of existence, Columbia women's golf beat two Ivy League opponents and had two student-athletes finish in the top 10 at the Ivy League Championships on Long Island.
The all-sophomore Lion team shot a combined 1070 at the three-round tournament to finish ahead of Harvard and Dartmouth, and just five shots behind fourth-place Brown.
Alana Johnson led the team with a fifth-place finish. She fired her best round of the tournament with a 78 in Sunday's final round to finish at 247. Jessie Marksbury tied for ninth place, her best finish in any event this season. Marksbury, who has been making steady improvement throughout the spring, shot an 85 on Sunday to make the jump into the top 10.
Esther Gweon climbed four spots on Sunday to tie for 21st place with an 86. If not for a disappointing first round, Gweon, one of the Lions' top players, would have been in the hunt for a top 10 finish as well.
Princeton won the tournament to retain its title, but Cindy Shin of Yale took the individual crown. For the Lions, who finished in seventh place last year, the fifth-place finish is a noteworthy achievement when considering their youth and potential to continue to improve.
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