The Abilene Christian women’s golf team finished strong at the Red Raider Invitational this week, finishing fourth at The Rawls Course.

ACU finished the tournament with a score of 32-over 896. Three Wildcats finished inside the top 20, led by Kate Pickrell, who finished eighth individually at 3-over 219.

Jiyu Han finished 16th with an 8-over 224, while Alana Kutt tied for 17th at 9-over 225. Kaylee Yuan finished tied for 30th at 12-over 228, and Julia Vollmer placed 56th at 23-over 239.

Head coach Rob Bennett said the team entered the tournament looking to improve its ability to maintain its performance as the tournament progressed.

 “We needed to get better at finishing stronger, especially on our first day, which is 36 holes,” Bennett said.

That improvement became noticeable as the Wildcats moved through the tournament. After struggling toward the end of their previous tournament at Purdue.

“Here at Tech, we played even better in the second round,” Bennett said. “As we got tired, we actually looked better, which was really good.”

The final round included strong individual performances from the Wildcats. Kutt shot a 3-over 75, including a 1-under 36 on the back nine with two birdies. Pickrell finished with a 4-over 76, while Han shot 5-over 77.

“I’m proud of the team for the progress we saw from that perspective,” Bennett said. “I think for those three, Kate especially, doing the things that she did again, it just shows that all the hard work that they’ve been putting in paid off.”

For Julia Vollmer, junior communication major from San Antonio, the tournament was another opportunity to see the team develop early in the season.

“We knew the course, and as a team we performed,” Vollmer said. “We have improved since our first event.”

Pickrell’s eighth-place finish also gave the Wildcats confidence moving forward, Vollmer said.

“Kate played really well. It got us a good boost of confidence heading into our next event,” Vollmer said.

ACU will have several weeks to build on the performance before returning to competition at the Mercedes-Benz Intercollegiate in Knoxville, Tennessee, Oct. 4-6.