CARLSBAD, Calif. – After making history by winning The Big West Championship and advancing to the NCAA Championships as the first-ever No. 10 seed in a regional, Cal State Fullerton’s 2024-25 campaign has come to a close at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa.
Junior Louise Dahl was the low Titan after recording an even-par 72 with just one birdie and one bogie on the Sunday scorecard. The native of Jyllinge, Denmark, jumped up 14 places on the individual leaderboard with the effort.
Big West individual medalist Kaitlyn Zermeno Smith finished at 3-over 75 with four birdies on the day. The junior from Covina, Calif., closed the 54-holes of play tied for 63rd with a total of 7-over 223 to pace the team. Powerful off the tee, Zermeno Smith finished the Par 5s at 1-under for the week with a 4.92 strokes per hole average. Rolling in 10 total birdies on the week was good for a tie for 17th in the field.
Kathi Zeilinger turned in a card of 4-over 76 as the third scorer on the day with Davina Xanh rounding out the efforts with a 6-over 78. Playing as a sub in the third round was sophomore from Temecula, Calif., Jordyn Janert.
As a team, the Titans closed in a tie for 28th, knotted with 35th-ranked UNLV and one stroke ahead of No. 37 Baylor in the Championships field. The top 15 teams and nine individuals not on those teams advance to a fourth day of stroke play as golfers vie for the individual title. Zermeno Smith’s finish was three strokes back from the final advancing individual.
Maria Jose Marin vaulted 11 places up the leaderboard after turning in a Round 3 score of 7-unver 65 to rise to the top of the listings at a compiled score of 9-under 207. Stanford grew their advantage in the team standings after an eye-popping 18-under day to move to 23-under 841 for the championships.
After tomorrow’s fourth and final round of stroke play, the top eight teams will compete in two days of match play to determine the national champion. Along with Stanford (-23), the teams currently in the mix in the top eight are Northwestern (-8), Oregon (-2), USC (E), Florida State (+3), Arkansas (+3), Texas (+5) and South Carolina (+8).