JACKSONVILLE, Fla. | South Alabama's Mercedes Aldana carded a five-under 211 on Tuesday afternoon as she claimed co-champion honors with Florida Gulf Coast's Lousiane Gauthier at the Sea Best Intercollegiate held at the San Jose Country Club hosted by Jacksonville. 

Aldana (71-69-71—211) entered the final round in a four-way tie for fourth but climbed to the top as she closed strong. The freshman birdied her final two holes of the day to move into medalist honors as she sunk a 10-foot put on 17 and then drained a 20-foot put on 18 to close out her round. Aldana finished the tournament with a team-best 11 birdies over her three rounds of play.

Aldana and Gauthier tied for the second-lowest score on par fours (3.90). 

Fellow freshman Katarina Schroll (71-71-74—216) finished at even par and tied with two other golfers for 10th as the Jaguars placed fourth as a team with a three-round 871 (29—286-295). Florida (857, -7) took home team honors, edging out Illinois State (859, -5).

Head Coach Marcelo Huarte 
- On starting the spring off with a solid performance:
"This was a solid start to our spring season. Once again, we were in the final group heading into the final round, which is always one of our goals. We had our first individual champion of the year. Mechi (Mercedes Aldana) played solid golf from the start and birdied her last two holes to win the event. Kathi (Schroll) finished in the top 10 for the fourth time and Cassidy (Lambert) had her best finish of the season.

"We have a month before our next event, which will give us an opportunity to work on a few things and prepare for a big stretch of golf."

Tournament Information
Event (host): Sea Best Intercollegiate (Jacksonville)
Dates: Jan. 27-28 (Monday-Tuesday)
Course: San Jose Country Club

Team Scores
(1) Florida 283-286-288—857 (-7), (2) Illinois State 290-279-290—860 (-4); (3) Coastal Carolina 295-287-285—867 (+3); (4) South Alabama 290-286-295—871 (+7); (5) Jacksonville 298-289-286—873 (+9); (6) Florida Gulf Coast 293-287-295—875 (+11); (7) Stetson 300-288-296—884 (+20); (8) Daytona State 298-294-299—891 (+27); (9) Richmond 293-297-303—893 (+29); (t-10) Florida Southern 297-290-312—899 (+35); (t-10) Navy 298-294-308—899 (+35); (12) Seminole State 312-293-304—909 (+45); (13) USC-Upstate 316-298—300—914 (+50); (14) Lipscomb 315-312-314—941 (+77); (15) Holy Cross 322-318-336—976 (+112)

Individual Leaders
(t-1) Mercedes Aldana (South Alabama) 71-69-71—211 (-5); (t-1) Lousiane Gauthier (Florida Gulf Coast) 71-71-69—211 (-5); (3) Jinyoung Yun (Illinois State) 74-69-69—212 (-4); (t-4) Ines Archer (Florida) 72-68-73—213 (-3); (t-4) Isaki Sakashita (Stetson) 75-72-73—213 (-3); (t-4); (t-4) Susana Olivares (Jacksonville) 74-72—67—213 (-3); (t-7) Elaine Widjaja (Florida) 68-72-74—214 (-2); (t-7) Maya Beasley (Richmond) 71-71-72—214 (-2); (9) Jessica Jolly (Illinois State) 71-69-75—215 (-1); (t-10) Katharina Schroll (South Alabama) 71-71-74—216 (E); (t-10) Aoife Devaney (Coastal Carolina) 73-71-74—216 (E); (t-10) Sara Sarrion (Coastal Carolina) 75-70-71—216 (E)

South Alabama Scores
(t-1) Mercedes Aldana 71-69-71—211 (-5); (t-10) Katharina Schroll 71-71-74—216 (E); (t-26) Cassidy Lambert 74-74-74—222 (+6); (t-49) Malia Uyeshiro 74-78-76—228 (+12); (t-51) Anna Behnsen 80-72-77—229 (+13)

Up Next
South Alabama will take a month off before returning to action at the Momentum Transportation UNF Collegiate  hosted by North Florida March 3-4.

Notes
•    This marked the second straight season that the Jags have competed in the Sea Best Invitational
•    The fourth-place finish by the Jags marked the fourth Top 5 placement for South this season
•    USA has finished sixth or better in all five tournaments this season
•    South Alabama tied with tournament champ Florida for the second-best scoring on par-fours at 4.12
•    The three-round 211 marked a season-low for Aldana while the win was the her first as a Jag
•    Aldana and Schroll each had eight birdies through the first two rounds of play
•    Aldana's win marked the first by a Jag golfer since Catharina Lohoff earned medalist honors at The Judson (11/1/22)
•    Aldana entered the tournament with just two rounds under par over her first four tournaments, but finished under par all three rounds at the event
•    The Top 10 finish for Schroll marked her fourth of the season, while she now has seven rounds under par this season
•    Uyeshiro recorded the second-most pars at the event as she finished with 28, just one behind Florida's Siuue Wu

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