SAN DIEGO – The San Diego State women's golf team resumes its busy fall schedule early next week when it ventures to the Rocky Mountains to compete in the Golfweek Conference Challenge, Sept. 24-26, in Wolcott, Colo. The Aztecs will play 18 holes on each of the tournament's three days, starting Monday on the par-72, 6,309-yard Tom Fazio Course at Red Sky Golf Club.
A total of 18 different Division I conferences will be represented by one of their member institutions at the 10th annual event hosted by Golfweek. Making its fourth consecutive appearance, SDSU will face the likes of Campbell, Central Arkansas, Delaware, Denver, East Tennessee State, Georgia, Jacksonville, Nebraska, Pepperdine, Sacramento State, Southern Mississippi, TCU, Troy, UCLA, UC Riverside and Virginia Tech.
Leading the Aztecs' excursion to the Centennial State are sophomores Sara Kjellker (Hollviken, Sweden), Gioia Carpinelli (Boppelsen, Switzerland) and junior Fernanda Escauriza (Asuncion, Paraguay), while sophomore Cameron Lee (Tustin, Calif.) and senior Kitty Tam (Hong Kong, China) round out head coach Leslie Spalding's starting five.
SDSU is coming off a solid third-place performance two weeks ago at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M., where it carded a collective 2-over-par 866 to finish eight strokes behind team champion Kent State. Individually, the Aztecs were led by Carpinelli, who matched her career-high placement with a tie for the runner-up spot after shooting a collegiate-best 6-under 210.
In addition, Escauriza recorded her sixth career top-20 placement with a tie for the 15th position at 1-over 217, while Kjellker landed in the 23rd position with a 3-over 219, followed by Tam, who tied for 68th at 13-over 229. On the other hand, Lee was inactive for the New Mexico trip and will be making her second career start this week in Colorado.
San Diego State posted a 20-over 884 at the event last year to tie for fifth place with SMU and Louisville, finishing 12 strokes behind tournament co-host and champion Denver (+8). Pepperdine (+10) was a close second, followed by Campbell (+16) and Arizona (+17), which boasted medalist Haley Moore, who logged a 7-under 209 to win by three shots over Eastern Kentucky's Elsa Moberly and Central Arkansas' Emma Svensson (-4).
With Arizona and EKU skipping this year's event, Svensson is the top returning individual, while Pepperdine's Hira Naveed (T-7th, E) and Momoka Kobori (T-7th, E) are also back in the mix, along with Campbell's Stacey White (T-11th, +1), Denver's Mary Weinstein (T-15th, +2) and TCU's Annika Clark (T-17th, +3).
Carpinelli is the Aztecs' top returner from the 2017 edition of the Golfweek Conference Challenge, where she fired a 6-over 222 to tie for the 26th spot, while Escauriza (T-48th, +10) and Kjellker (T-77th, +19) will be looking to improve on their respective finishes from last season at Red Sky Golf Club.
SDSU took home back-to-back team titles at the tournament in 2015 and 2016, with former Aztec All-American Emma Henrikson capturing medalist honors as a senior in the earlier installment. With her crown, Henrikson became the first player in the event's history to finish with a double-digit score below par after carding a 10-under 206, which is tied for third for lowest 54-hole total on the school's all-time charts.
Following the Golfweek Conference Challenge, San Diego State hits the road once again for Northwestern University's Windy City Collegiate Classic, Oct. 1-2, at Westmoreland Country Club in Wilmette, Ill.