Sinead, Lucy help East

Tennessee State to win

first Conference title

Galway's Sinead O'Sullivan and twice past Welsh girls champion Lucy Gould from Bargoed played their part as their university, East Tennessee State, won the Atlantic Sun Conference women's college team championship for the first time - over their home course, The Ridges G&CC, at Johnson City, Tennessee on Wednesday.

Team-mate Laura Jansone from Latvia was the individual winner with rounds of 67, 82 and 77 for a total of 226 over the par-72, 6175yd course.

Sinead (she's the one with the red hair in the picture!) scored 78, 74 and 78 to finish joint seventh of 230. She had been fifth going into the final round. Sinead had no birdies in either her first or last rounds.

Lucy must have been wishing it had been a four-round tournament because, after a bad start, she just got better and better - 84, 79 and 71 for 234. Her first round included a 9 at the par-4 15th. But she finished up with six birdies over the three rounds. In her par-beating final round, Miss Gould birdied the sixth, eighth and 14th.

East Tennessee State won the team title by a proverbial mile. They totalled 903 - 25 shots ahead of runners-up Campbell University with Belmont University (942) a distant third of the eight competing teams.

LEADING INDIVIDUAL FINAL TOTALS

Par 216 (3 x 72). 6175yd

226 Laura Jansone (East Tennessee State) 67 82 77.

227 Belen Diaz Cisneros (Campbell University) 79 74 74, Lorie Warren (Belmont University) 78 69 80.

Other scores:

230 Sinead O'Sullivan (East Tennessee State) 78 74 78 (jt 7th).

234 Lucy Gould (East Tennessee State) 84 79 71.

LEADING TEAM FINAL TOTALS

903 East Tennessee State.

928 Campbell University.

942 Belmont University.

Eight teams took part