O'Brien Earns All-American Honors as Belles Finish Fifteenth

ANGOLA, Ind. - Doyle O'Brien earned All-American accolades by virtue of her top-ten finish while the Saint Mary's golf team finished fifteenth at the 2012 NCAA Division III Championships.


The Saint Mary's Golf Team after the conclusion of
their final round of the 2012 NCAA Championships.The Belles' four-day score of 1,304 is the best cumulative score by Saint Mary's at the NCAA Championship Tournament among the team's seven appearances at the national tournament. It is an improvement of 14 strokes over the 1,318 posted by the 2009 Belles squad.

The 14-time defending national champion Methodist University captured their fifteenth consecutive title by just six strokes over DePauw. Wisconsin-Eau Claire made a charge on the final day to finish third. Eau Claire's Catherine Wagner took home the individual national title with a four-day score of 302.

Doyle O'Brien wrapped up a fine performance at the 2012 NCAA Championships with an 80 on the final day of play to give her a share of sixth place individually. Through her first nine holes of play, the sophomore was three-over (39) with back-to-back birdies on the par three 11th and par four 12th. She finished the front nine with a five-over 41 and was just inches away from a birdie on the final hole of the day. The sophomore finished with a 307 (77-78-72-80), which is the best four-day score by a Saint Mary's golfer at the NCAA Championships in program history. With the tied-for-sixth-place finish, she becomes the sixth All-American in program history.

Janice Heffernan finished with a flurry of pars on her way to an 83 (40-43) in the final round of play. The freshman finished her round with six consecutive pars to give her a total of 11 pars on the day and to share the best front-nine score (40) with Christine Brown. Her three-day score of 329 (84-82-80-83) was good enough for a share of 61st place.

Christine Brown concluded her collegiate career with a solid 83 on Friday. After shooting a 43 on the back nine, the senior turned in a 40 on the front nine after three straight pars to conclude the round. She had nine pars on the day, and her 341 (92-81-85-83) put Brown in 84th place at the end of the tournament.

Natalie Matuszak also saw her collegiate career come to a close on Friday. She shot an 84 (44-40) with six straight pars on the back nine. Matuszak finished the day with eight pars. Her final score of 337 (88-82-83-84) gave her 80th place.

Paige Pollak shot an 89 (43-46) to wrap up the team's performances at the NCAA Championship. The sophomore had a pair of long birdies on the par four fourth and the par five seventh. Pollak's four-day total of 342 (82-85-86-89) put her into a tie for 85th individually in the tournament.

Team Leader Board   Course:Zollner Golf Course: NCAA Tees     Par 72 - 5990 yards current position team scoring rounds total score to par thru today 1 2 3 4 1 1 Methodist University +90 F   +22 310 310 312 310 1242 2 2 DePauw University +96 F   +26 314 307 313 314 1248 3 6 Wisconsin-Eau Claire +103 F   +25 315 307 320 313 1255 4 3 Centre College +104 F   +18 317 319 314 306 1256 5 11 Williams College +113 F   +38 307 323 309 326 1265 6 5 Mary Hardin-Baylor +115 F   +30 317 315 317 318 1267 7 8 George Fox University +117 F   +18 318 329 316 306 1269 8 16 Illinois Wesleyan +122 F   +30 322 316 318 318 1274 T9 10 St. Olaf College +125 F   +26 314 330 319 314 1277 T9 13 Allegheny +125 F   +31 320 320 318 319 1277 11 9 Gustavus Adolphus +134 F   +30 324 324 320 318 1286 12 12 Whitman College +138 F   +32 316 333 321 320 1290 13 4 Washington U.-St. Louis +145 F   +38 326 325 320 326 1297 14 7 Claremont Mudd Scripps +150 F   +30 337 317 330 318 1302 15 24 St. Mary's Coll. -IN +152 F   +42 331 323 320 330 1304 16 37 Baldwin-Wallace Coll +169 F   +39 330 331 333 327 1321 17 22 Wartburg College +173 F   +30 337 338 332 318 1325 18   Franklin College +200 F   +49 338 329 348 337 1352 19 26 Carroll University WI +208 F   +40 348 344 340 328 1360