San Jose—San Jose State shot the low round of the day with a 296 to win the 2007 Spartan Invitational by 15 shots over second-place California and Colorado Tuesday afternoon in the final round played at the Almaden Country Club.   The Spartans won the tournament for the second consecutive year.

UC Irvine’s Selanee’ Henderson shot a two-under 70 in the final round to win the individual title with a 210.  San Jose State’s Jenelle Gomez finished two shots behind with a 212 after shooting a two-over par 74 on Tuesday.  Gomez’s three-round total of 212 is lowest round for a Spartan women’s golfer since 1999 when Marcela Leon shot a 212 (-4) at Arizona Invitational to finish in second place.  Gomez led the tournament in par four scoring and pars with 41.

“I hit the ball everywhere today, and my putting saved me not only today but all three rounds,” said Gomez.  “I just tried to stay calm during my round and just imagine that it was just practice.  Playing on the course I grew up on was a big incentive for me to play well.  It was fun having big galleries follow us around and cheer for us.  We practice here all the time, and it was nice that we could reap the rewards of all the hard work and time the players and coaches have put into this season.”

The Spartans placed four players in the top-10.  After Gomez’s second-place finish, Erica Most shot the Spartans’ low round for the day with a one-under 71 to finish in a third-place tie at 220.  Cristina Corpus shot a 75, while Sirapa Kasemsamran shot a 76 as both players finished the tournament at 223, which tied them for eighth place with three other players.  Kim Pynyasavatsut rounded out the Spartan scoring as she shot a 78 and finished with a 236.  In her first collegiate tournament, Kanika Minocha shot an 81 Tuesday for a 241 as she played as an individual.

“Winning wire-to-wire for us is a great accomplishment for this team,” said San Jose State head coach John Dormann.  “We are a very young team with two freshmen and two sophomores competing for us this week, and this team had never had a big lead before heading into the final round.  We started a little uneasy but started shooting better once we played a few holes and relaxed on the course.

“I am really happy for Jenelle after overcoming injuries and adversities the past few months.  She has not played competitively for us since we played at Stanford in October.  You could feel that she wanted to do well at this tournament.  Even though it didn’t end the way she wanted, Jenelle will learn from this experience and be able to close the deal in future tournaments.”

San Jose State entered the day with an 11-shot lead and extended its lead to 15-shots after shooting the low round of 296.  California and UC Irvine each shot a 297, while Idaho and Colorado State shot 299.  The Spartans led the tournament in par four scoring and were second in par five scoring at -3.  The team made 32 birdies and led the field with 179 pars. 

“It was great to win at home, especially with the extra pressure to win,” said Dormann.  “We were really thrilled to host the tournament at the Almaden Country Club this year.  It is a wonderful course and a first-class facility that we hope will continue to host future tournaments.”

FINAL RESULTS          

SJSU Spartan Invitational    

Almaden Country Club     San Jose, Calif. 

Par:  72     Yardage:  6121               

Teams                          Scores 

  1   San Jose State Univ      291  290  296    877    

  2   Colorado, U. of          291  301  300    892    

       California, U. of        298  297  297    892    

  4   UC - Irvine              297  301  297    895    

  5   Idaho, University of     298  306  299    903    

  6   Hawaii, Univ. of         302  300  307    909    

  7   Washington, U. of        311  298  302    911    

  8   Colorado State Univ.     310  307  299    916    

  9   Nevada, U. of            308  304  308    920    

10   Oregon State U.          315  299  311    925    

11   Fresno State             311  311  308    930    

12   New Mexico State U.      305  314  313    932    

13   Santa Clara Univ.        314  317  320    951    

14   Miami, U. of             322  317  317    956    

   Fin.    Top 20 Players         School       Scores 

      1    Selanee' Henderson     UC Irvine     69   71   70   210

      2    Jenelle Gomez          San Jose S    70   68   74   212

      3    Allison Goodman        California    72   73   75   220

           Julie Kim              Colorado      72   76   72   220

           Erica Moston           San Jose S    78   71   71   220

      6    Shannon Yocum          California    76   72   73   221

      7    Jessi Gebhardt         Oregon St.    77   71   74   222

      8    Inah Park              N. Mex. St    75   75   73   223

           Lindsay Caljouw        Colorado      70   76   77   223

           Dominique Pytewski     Colorado      74   72   77   223

           Sirapa Kasemsamran     San Jose S    73   74   76   223

           Cristina Corpus        San Jose S    71   77   75   223

     13    Tiffany Prats          Miami         77   75   72   224

           Xyra Suyetsugu         Hawaii        75   75   74   224

     15    Amber Prange           Washington    76   72   77   225

           Amanda Jacobs          Idaho         73   77   75   225

           Tiffany Veerkamp       Fresno St.    73   73   79   225

           Kim Shin               Washington    78   73   74   225

     19    Kelly Nakashima        Idaho         75   78   73   226

           Chelsea Benton         CSU           73   76   77   226

           Beth Stonecypher       Idaho         77   76   73   226

           Roseanne Niven         California    77   74   75   226

           Kasey Claussen         CSU           78   73   75   226

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