BANKS, Ore. - Suffering from a lack of outdoor practice due to long winter conditions in the Spokane area, Whitworth University fell to fifth place on Saturday at the Northwest Conference Women's Spring Golf Classic at Quail Valley Golf Course. The Pirates had finished second in the NWC Fall Classic last October.

Pitkonen finished 9th individually

The Pirates posted a first round score of 382 on Friday, then followed with a 388 on Sunday for the two-round total of 770. Pacific University and Linfield College tied for the tournament lead with a score of 724. Puget Sound (724) was third, while George Fox was fourth (746).

Krystal Pitkonen (So., Colbert, Wash.) led the Pirates individually, finishing 9th overall with a score of 92-91 - 183.

Mariesa Stombaugh (So., Salem, Ore.) shot 94-95 -189, while Kaylin Carlson (Fr., Clarkston, Wash.) fired 98-97 - 195.

Sophie Sestero (Fr., Boise, Idaho) and Rachel Dubes (So., Quincy, Wash.) rounded out Whitworth's individual scoring with two-round totals of 203 and 210, respectively.

The Northwest Conference Fall and Spring Classic tournaments count 25% each toward the final NWC standings. Whitworth gets four points to add to the seven points toward the final season total by finishing fifth in the spring tournament. At the end of the 2007-08 season, the NWC Championship will be determined by results posted at the NWC Fall Classic (25%), the NWC Spring Classic (25%) and the NWC Tournament (50%).

The current NWC standings are:
Pacific (15.5 points)
Linfield (12.5)
George Fox (11)
Whitworth (11)
Puget Sound (10)
Willamette (5)
Puget Sound (4)
Lewis & Clark and Whitman (0)

NWC Women's Spring Classic Results (PDF)

Whitworth Golf Schedule / Results

Whitworth Roster