BANKS, Ore. – Brinn Hovde (Sr., Bellingham, Wash.) medaled for the second in time in her career, sharing first place at the Willamette Cup, played on a partly wet and windy Sunday afternoon at the Quail Valley Golf Course.

Hovde carded a 14-over-par 86, tying with Willamette’s Mckenzie Weinhold. Though Hovde struggled a bit with her tee shots, making for long shots on the green, she continued her trend of finishing under 90 at every tournament this spring.

With all four of its scoring golfers placing in the top four, the Bearcats won the three-team tournament, outdistancing Pacific by a whopping 57 strokes. Linfield entered just three players and therefore did not compile a team score.

Alexandria Smith (Jr., Bellingham, Wash.) and Maggie Harlow (Fr., Hillsboro, Ore.) placed sixth and seventh, respectively. Smith shot an 89 over 18 holes, while Harlow was one stroke back. Harlow provided one of the greatest Wildcat highlights of the day, navigating the par-3 sixth hole over water and to a tough pin location for birdie.

“They all started out really well, “said head coach Brynn Hurdus. “But there were a couple of tough holes over water that threw off their rhythm.”

“We all started out better than we finished,” Hovde agreed. “The wind and rain picked up, which kind of threw a wrench in things.”

The one-day tournament served as the final tune-up for the Northwest Conference Championships, which count 50 percent toward determining the league champion.

“After this weekend we all feel we have room for improvement and are excited to practice this week and apply what we work on at the conference tournament,” Hovde said. “We’ll hopefully see our scores go down when it really counts.”

NEXT: The NWC Championships are scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Oregon Golf Association Golf Course in Woodburn.