March 18, 2012

GAINESVILLE, Fla. (seminoles.com) - Florida State senior Maria Salinas won her first collegiate individual title and the Seminole women's golf team finished in third place at the power-packed Lady Gator Invitational on the Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida. Salinas shot a personal best and tournament record 66 in the third and final round to claim the individual title.

No. 23 Florida rallied to win its home tournament as they claimed the team championship with a one stroke lead over No. 2 Alabama and an eight stroke win over Florida State. The Gators carded the best team scores of the second and third rounds to win the team title after finishing the first round in a tie for sixth place. Salinas win the individual championship with a two stroke win over Camilla Hedberg of Florida.

Florida State, ranked No. 34 nationally, finished ahead of four teams in the top 15 of the national rankings: No. 4 Auburn (tied for sixth), No. 10 Georgia (fourth), No. 11 Duke (fifth) and No. 14 Baylor (ninth) in putting together its most complete tournament of the year.

"This was a good, solid tournament for us and I am really proud of the girls," said head coach Amy Bond. "We are really close to putting it all together and today certainly showed how hard we are working in practice. We played well and were under par on the toughest holes on the course.

Salinas (Lima, Peru) played the best round of her career as she set the tournament record with a four under par 66. She carded six birdies and was at or below par on 16 of her 18 holes during the round. Salinas birdied her second hole to move under par and never rose above par during the remainder of the round. She recorded five birdies over a string of seven holes to move to four under par with five holes remaining to be played. Salinas closed out her round with a strong of five consecutive birdies to finish with her career best score of 66.

"I am really proud of my teammates for finishing so in this event," said Salinas. We are getting better each week. I am really happy to win the individual championship because the better we all do as individuals the better we all do as a team - and that's the goal for all of us."

Freshman Laure Castelain (Bordeaux, France) finished in a tie for 12th place in the individual standings with a 215 total for the 54 hole event. She finished with three consecutive scores of 75 or better (71-72-75).

"This is the kind of tournament and the type of result we needed as a team. We now have to utilize our performance as a momentum builder for the rest of the season," said Bond.

Florida State continues their regular season at the Liz Murphey Classic at the University of Georgia March 30-April 1 in Athens, Ga.

Lady Gator Invitational/Par 70/Final Florida State Results
Mark Bostick Golf Club at the University of Florida/March 16-18, 2012
3/17.	Florida State	290	293	289	872
1.	Maria Salinas	68	72	66	206
T12.	Laure Castelain	71	72	75	215
T28.	Malin Jansson	74	76	73	223
46.	Jessica Negron	79	73	75	227
T48.	Alex Milan	77	76	76	229

<Lady Gator Invitational/Par 70/Final Team Results
Mark Bostick Golf Club at the University of Florida/March 16-18, 2012
1.    Florida           864   10.   Ole Miss             891
2.    Alabama           865   11.   Kentucky             890
3.    Florida State     872   12.   UCF                  906
4.    Georgia           877   13.   Wisconsin            912
5.    Duke              882   14.   Kent State           918
T6.   USF               885   15.   UT Chattanooga       923
T6.   Auburn            885   16.   Mississippi State    926
T6.   Arkansas          885   17.   Georgia State        929
9.    Baylor            880

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