In the second round of the national championship, the Michigan State Spartans beat the other top 23 teams in the country to earn the best score at three-over-par (283).

It is beginning to sound like a broken record at this point, as the Spartans were led by their three seniors who all have three Big Ten Championship titles to their credit.

Allyssa Ferrell, who kept the Spartans from falling too far out of contention in the first round by posting a one-under-par 69, made sure that people knew that was no fluke.The score tied a record for any Spartan in the national championships out of 12 separate appearances for Michigan State. Ferrell tied the record again Wednesday by posting another 69 — the lowest score on the team.

Liz Nagel, one of the emotional leaders of the team on and off the course, was excellent throughout the whole day. Nagel bogeyed the first and last holes of the round. But outside of that, posted a two-under-par over the other 16 holes to shoot an even par 70 for the day.

Christine Meier was also consistent throughout the whole round, and matched Nagel’s even-par 70. This was important for her confidence, as Meier bounced back strong from a rather poor performance by her standards in the first round, scoring a 12-over par 82. Meier birdied three holes on the round, along with three bogeys, and parred the other 12.

Redshirt freshman Gabby Yurik was not far behind the three seniors, posting a very respectable four-over-par 74 in the round. Yurik was pressing a bit in the front nine, as she had two bogies and a double bogey, but found her rhythm in the back nine with two birdies and two pars.

Michigan State is only four strokes behind the first and second-ranked teams in the country, Southern California and UCLA respectively, who are in a three-way tie with Arizona for fourth place at 24-over par (584). Oklahoma has a sizeable lead over most of the field at 15-over par (575), but Duke (578) and Arizona State (580) are not far behind. Stanford (586) and Mississippi State (587), are the only other teams currently beating Michigan State (588).

Thursday will prove to be critical, as it is the moving day and will really separate the teams who will be in contention going into the final round. Michigan State is looking to follow their Tournament leading round again on Friday, to put themselves in a good position on the final day of the season.

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Anthony Garcia is a multimedia journalist for Impact Sports

Photo: Michigan State University Women’s Golf

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