HATTIESBURG, Miss. (October 29, 2024) – The University of North Alabama women's golf team closed the fall with perhaps its most successful tournament this season, finishing fourth place at The Judson hosted by Southern Miss on Tuesday in Hattiesburg, Miss.
 
In a field of 60 golfers, the Lions placed four in the top-25 of the individual leaderboard. Redshirt sophomore Kerigan Klauber was the highlight of this group, earning her first-career top-10 finish with a card of 73-73-74 to finish four-over-par 220. She finished with sole possession of 10th place.
 
Klauber ended the final round with three straight birdies — a par three, a par five and a par four, respectively. She started on hole 4 and also birdied hole 8 for four birdies on the day.
 
UNA had two players tied for 19th in senior Hannah Dees and freshman Sirichaya Chanpen. Dees made the largest rise for UNA in the final round, moving up 10 spots with an even-72. She had three birdies and three bogeys. Dees started three-under on the first nine holes.
 
Dees and Chanpen finished 10-over-par 226 for the tournament. Not far behind was Jahnavi Prakhya in 24th at 12-over-par 228, carding a 75 in the final round. True freshman Olivia Whittle rounded out the lineup at 23-over-par 239.
 
With Southern Miss and Tarleton State battling for the top two spots, the Lions and four other schools duked it out for the final podium spot. Southern Miss defeated Tarleton State by two strokes. UNA had the best round of the day outside of the top two teams, finishing at nine-over-par.
 
Jacksonville State had a seven-stroke lead on UNA heading into the final day, but the Lions trimmed it down to three in the final round in a valiant effort. The Gamecocks held on for third place to finish 33-over-par for the tournament, while the Lions settled for fourth place at 36-over. This strong finish came despite UNA trailing JSU by 10 strokes heading into the final six holes.
 
However, the Lions did sprint away from the rest of the competition. UNA competed alongside UAB and Belmont on Tuesday. Both the Blazers and Bruins dropped a spot and were each nine strokes or more behind UNA, while Alabama State rose up to fifth with a 10-over in the final round.
 
The rest of the pack — Lamar, Western Illinois and Mississippi College — rounded out the leaderboard 20 strokes behind Belmont in seventh. MC is the No. 38 ranked team in Division II.
 
Last season, UNA finish tied for seventh of 12 teams with a score of 907. The Lions shaved seven strokes off that mark this season.
 
This concludes the fall season for North Alabama. The Lions return to action in Spring 2025 with the Huntsville.org Intercollegiate hosted by Samford on March 3-4 at RTJ Hampton Cove in Huntsville. This will also be the site for the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship in April.
 
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