The Eagles set team records in Arizona

Chadron State’s golf team broke program team records in single round and 36-hole record, Friday and Saturday, while in Arizona for the RJGA Palm Valley Classic.  

“I am proud of my team,” Kinsey Smith, freshman of Windsor, Colorado, said in a message to The Eagle. “We put together some great team scores. Our team placement won’t show it, but we did very well with out numbers in the first tournament.” 

CSC broke the single-round team score Friday with a score of 314, just to return to the course Saturday to beat it again by three strokes for the two best rounds in the program’s history.  

At the end of the Classic, The Eagles finished 12th out of 20 teams. They scored 314-311-625, beating the college’s 36-hole record by 20 strokes.  

The previous record was set by the team during the 2019-2020 golf season with a score of 317. 

Alpine Hickstein, sophomore of Chadron, led the way Friday for the Eagles, scoring 76 for the first round.  

Kenzey Kanno, freshman of Mitchell, and Allison Acosta, freshman of Oro Valley, Arizona, beat their career bests. Kannon finished 32nd with a score card of  77-77-154. 

Acosta finished Friday with a score of 79 and placed 59th by the end of the Classic, 79-80-159. 

Smith set her career best, Saturday, with a score card of 74, finishing the weekend 82-74-156, tied 44th with Hickstein, 76-80-156. 

“Reaching my new career best was a great feeling,” Smith said. “I knew a low-70s score was in me somewhere, so it was nice to find it and put a good round together. I know what I’m capable of now so I’m excited to see how I do the rest of the season.” 

The golfers stayed in Arizona for the Desert Invitational, Monday at West Texas A&M University in Tucson. CSC finished Monday 13th and sat 14th at the end of the invitational, with a 333-342-675 score. 

Hickstein finished 29th with a score of 80-81-161. Kanno scored 80-89-169 tied 53rd with Smith and her score of 82-87-169.

“I felt like I played some of my best golf of my college career at these two tournaments,” Smith said. “I struggled a little bit, but I’m still proud of how I managed to make a comeback after a string of bad holes.”