Taking 15th place in a field of 16 teams on Tuesday, NIU women’s golf traveled to Orlando, Florida, to compete in the 2026 UCF Challenge, hosted by the University of Central Florida.
The Huskies’ final score for the invitational was 902, 38 over par. NIU finished just 3 strokes behind The University of North Carolina at Charlotte, and 11 strokes ahead of 16th place Old Dominion.
NIU’s best round of the invitational was the second round on Monday, with a score of 4 over par, 292.
Auburn University took first place, winning by four strokes for a score of 24 under par. Auburn senior Katie Cranston was the individual champion of the event, winning by one stroke, with a score of 9 under par, 207.
The top finisher for the Huskies was sophomore Dakota Tallent, who tied for 56th place. Tallent finished 7 strokes over par, with her best score coming in the second round. Tallent shot one under par in the second frame, before a six over par in the third round.
Sophomore Mia Raines tied for 61st place with a score of 8 over par, 224. Raines’s best score of the weekend was the second round with 73 strokes, 1 over par.
Coming in 75th place, freshman Emile Chile finished with a score of 228, 12 over par. Sophomore Alexa Ouellet finished tied for 83rd, finishing 16 over par, with a score of 232.
The last Huskie on the leaderboard was graduate student Caroline Kent, who finished in 89th place. Kent shot even par in the second round, but a 10 over first frame and 9 over second led to a 19 over par finish, with a score of 235.
UP NEXT
The Huskies’ next invitational will take place on Feb. 10 and Feb. 11 at the BGSU Women’s Intercollegiate at the Wigwam Golf Club Blue Course in Litchfield Park, Arizona. Live stats will be updated on SCOREBOARD.
