ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – As a first year on the College of Saint Benedict golf team, Natalie Amundson recorded four top-10 performances, and finished in the top 25 at all five meets the Blazers competed in this fall.
Amundson started her CSB career with a sixth-place finish, and moved up to a tie for fourth in the second tournament of the fall. Amundson saved her best performance of the fall for last, though.
Monday afternoon, Amundson wrapped up the third and final round of the MIAC Golf Championships in a tie for second place out of 55 individuals. That marked the best finish of the season for Amundson, CSB’s top finish at the tournament and the Blazers’ best individual performance at the conference championships since 2011.
For her performance at the three-round conference championships, Amundson has been named the CSB Athlete of the Week.
Amundson, who was CSB’s top finisher in three tournaments this season, started out the MIAC tournament tied for 12
th with an 84 after Saturday’s first round. She cut 10 strokes off that score and jumped up to fifth after shooting a 74 – the fourth-best 18-hole individual score in CSB history – Sunday, but she wasn’t done yet.
In Monday’s third and final round, Amundson tied for the field low with a 76, which was good enough to push her up into a tie for second. She finished the tournament with a three-round total of 234, and tied with St. Thomas’ Emily Thul.
Amundson’s runner-up performance marks the best individual finish for CSB at the conference championships since 2011 when Kathryn Hauff also finished second. It marks the first time the Blazers have had an individual in the top five since Bridget Cummings took third in 2013.
Amundson’s performance earned her a spot on the All-MIAC Championship team along with the other top-10 finishers. She was one of two first-year student-athletes to finish in the top five and one of five first years in the top 10.
Thanks to Amundson’s top-two finish, CSB was able to hold onto its spot in fourth place in the MIAC standings. The Blazers finished with a 997 and finished 14 strokes ahead of Bethel, which took fifth with a 1,011.
Amundson and the Blazers are off now until the spring season. Their schedule is yet to be determined.
