College Roundup Kent State’s Gillen settles for 2nd

By John Manley

It just wasn’t meant to be for Martina Gillen. The Kent State freshman took

the lead into the final round of the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational at Ohio State’s Scarlet Golf Course in Columbus, Ohio, but a career round from the host school’s Natalie Aber throttled the Dubliner’s aspirations. Aber shot 67 in the third and final round, after carding scores of 74 and 79, to tie Gillen at 220. The Kent phenom shot 73, 74 and 73. The stalemate was settled on the first playoff hole, when Aber shot par to Gillen’s bogey. Ohio State won the team title, with Kent in fourth place.

The University of Toledo finished third in the First Energy Intercollegiate at the Windmill Lakes Golf Club in Ravenna, Ohio. Sophomore Sean McTernan from Sligo had the low score of the Rockets’ three Irishmen. He shot consecutive rounds of 73 to finish tied for 16th at 146. Sophomore David Jones of Derry shared 38th place with those who hit 150 (77-73), while junior Alan Murray, from Bray, Co. Wicklow, tied for 69th place at 156 (83-73). Kent State’s Jon Mills was the medalist at 134. Kent won the team trophy, with Toledo 11 strokes behind.

Track

Iona’s Mark Smyth came up a winner in the men’s 10,000 meters at the Columbia Invitational. The Grange, Co. Sligo, freshman finished in 30:45.29. The second finisher checked in 38 seconds later.

Western Kentucky’s Enda Grandfield shortened up by 2,000 meters to win his

second individual title in as many weeks. The Kerry freshman broke the tape in the men’s 3,000 meters at the Florida State Quad Meet with a time of 8:41.5. The previous week, he won at 5,000 meters in Louisville.

Both the present and the past represented the Hilltoppers’ women’s team. The women’s 1,500 and 3,000 meters were won by former Western Kentucky All-American Breeda Dennehy-Willis, who competed for Ireland in the Sydney Olympics. She won the 1,500 in 4:19.29, with sophomore Olga Cronin of Cork finishing second in 4:33.63. Finishing third behind Dennehy-Willis in the 3,000 was WKU junior Terri Hennessy, from Cork. Her time was 10:25.36.

Tennis

Brown’s Nick Malone had a win and a loss against Ivy League rivals last week. The junior from Greystones, Co. Wicklow, lost to Dartmouth’s Neal Bobba, 7-6, 6-4, at second singles, then defeated Harvard’s Cliff Nguyen in a match at No. 2, 6-3, 6-0. Brown defeated Dartmouth, 5-2, then lost to Harvard by the same score.

Jennie Timoney split a pair of matches for Harvard’s women’s team last week. She faced off against Yale’s Liz Oosterhuis at fifth singles, and lost, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3. The Celbridge, Co. Kildare junior bounced back against Brown’s Caroline Casey, winning, 3-6, 6-0, 6-4. The Crimson lost to Yale, 5-2, and defeated Brown by the same score.

California’s Catherine Lynch also had mixed results. She disposed of UCLA’s Mariko Fritz-Krockow at fifth singles, 6-1, 6-2, then stepped up to the third slot against Southern California. She won the first set against Maureen Diaz, 6-4, then lost the next two sets by the same score and, hence, the match. Lynch is a freshman from Dublin. California lost both matches, to UCLA, 4-3, and USC, 5-2.