Photos of SMU at the Winona State Invitational / click here

WINONA, Minn. — After two weeks off, the Saint Mary's University women's golf team made up for lost time at the Winona State University Invitational.

Unlike most collegiate tournaments, the WSU Invitational is a 54-hole event, meaning the Cardinals were forced to play 36 holes on Saturday, and another 18 on Sunday.

Two rounds in one day? No problem.

In fact, for four of the Cardinals' five golfers, Saturday's second round was better than the first — as SMU posted a 349 total, the third-lowest 18-hole round in school history.

And Sunday's final round wasn't too bad, either, as SMU put together a 352, the fourth-lowest 18-hole round ever, as SMU finished the 54-hole event with a 1,071 total to place fourth.

"I thought we played pretty well," said SMU coach Shawn Stimmel. "The ladies seemed to adust (to playing 36 holes in one day) all right – it's tough to do, but we seemed to get stronger as the day went on.

"This was a good tune-up for us — hopefully we can get our scores down just a bit next week (at the MIAC Championships)."

Kate O'Connor (Orland Park, Ill.) led the way for the Cardinals, shooting rounds of 82-92-86—260 to finish 15th overall. Caty Beel (Tucson, Ariz.) chipped in a 267 (91-85-91), followed by Angie Christiansen (West Salem, Wis. / 98-85-86—269), Val Meschke (Pine River, Minn. / 99-87-91—277) and Katelyn Rizzi (Austin, Minn. / 99-93-89—281).

The Cardinals close out their season next weekend, taking part in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships.