Klauber posts first top-10 finish at The Judson

HATTIESBURG, Miss. (October 29, 2024) – The University of North Alabama women’s golf team finished the fall with perhaps its most successful tournament of the season, finishing fourth 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 on the individual leaderboard. Redshirt sophomore Kerigan Klauber was the highlight of that group, earning her first career top-10 finish with a card of 73-73-74 to finish with a four-over-par 220. She finished in sole possession of 10th place.

Klauber finished 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 in 19th place in senior Hannah Dees and first-year students Sirichaya Chanpen. Dees made the biggest surge for UNA in the final round, moving up 10 spots with an even-par 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 after was Jahnavi Prakhya tied for 24th at 12-over-par 228 and carded a 75 in the final round. True freshmen Olivia Whittle rounded out the streak at 23-over-par 239.

With Southern Miss and Tarleton State battling for the top two spots, the Lions and four other schools battled 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 held a seven-stroke lead on UNA entering 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 to finish 33-over par for the tournament, while the Lions settled for fourth at 36-over. This strong finish came despite UNA trailing JSU by 10 strokes heading into the final six holes.

However, the Lions sprinted away from the rest of the competition. UNA competed alongside UAB and Belmont on Tuesday. Both the Blazers and Bruins dropped one spot and were each nine strokes or more behind UNA, while Alabama State moved up to fifth at 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 finished tied for seventh out 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 the spring of 2025 with the Huntsville.org Intercollegiate hosted by Samford on March 3-4. March at RTJ Hampton Cove in Huntsville. This will also be the site of the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship in April.

For more information on North Alabama Athletics, visit www.roarlions.com and follow UNA Athletics further Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.