The rain may have delayed the Blue Devils' final round, but it hardly slowed them down. No. 1 Duke cruised to an easy 10-stroke victory today at the Scarlet Course at Ohio State University to claim its fourth and the University's eighth National Championship.
The win marks the second consecutive championship and the fourth overall for head coach Dan Brooks and the Blue Devils in the last eight years-they won in 1999, 2002, 2005, and 2006.
"Performance comes in cycles, and we were in a good cycle," Brooks said. "You have to take it one athlete at a time, that's why we did well."
Duke finished with a four-day total of 1,167, 15 strokes over par. The team entered the final round ahead of Southern California by 13 strokes, a tally that dwindled slightly on Friday, but not enough to ever bother the defending champions.
"I was never really scared to lose the team lead," Brooks said. "We had a good run through those first few holes, and I relaxed then."
Dewi Schreefel of USC took home the individual title by finishing at 2-under-par for the tournament. Duke's Jennie Lee was close behind, though, finishing at even par and in second place.
"I hit the ball really well this week," Lee said. "I definitely was able hit more greens and that worked out great, gave me more chances to make birdie."
Lee had only one top-10 finish during her rookie season before this week's Championship, but she entered the final round tied for second, three shots behind leader Eileen Vargas of Pepperdine. She had her best round of the tournament on Friday- one-under-par 71- which helped her claim second place overall while playing in the final grouping of the day with Vargas and eventual winner Schreefel.
"I was nervous just because the team was doing so well," Lee said. "I was nervous all day but I reminded myself to stay patient really well so it worked out well."
Behind Lee, fellow freshman Amanda Blumenherst finished tied for ninth after ending the tournament with a two-over-par 74.
Senior Liz Janangelo struggled Friday with a final score of 76, but she still finished tied for 12th overall. Both Anna Grzebien and Jennifer Pandolfi carded scored of 1-over-par 73 and finished tied for 21.
"The stars lined up for us," Brooks said. "Some things happened at the right time."
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