Buffs Bits
Nearly all of CU’s fall teams spent time ranked in the Top 25, including women’s cross-country, which checked in at No. 1. Men’s cross-country and golf, plus women’s soccer, volleyball and golf were among the nation’s elite — not to mention football. … The cross-country teams swept the Pac-12 Championships for the second year in a row, two weeks after the women won the NCAA Pre-National Invitational and the men finished third. … Junior outside linebacker Derek McCartney (IntPhys’16; MS’18) was one of 24 college football players named to the American Football Coaches Association’s 2016 Allstate AFCA Good Works Team. It’s among football’s most coveted off-the-field honors, as it recognizes athletes who better the community and the lives of others.
Lee Shoots 61
Senior Esther Lee (Anth’17) tied the NCAA women’s golf record when she fired a 61 in New Mexico’s Branch Law/Dick McGuire Invitational in September. Only one other golfer, Stanford alumna Mariah Stackhouse, has shot a 61 in a women’s NCAA competition. Lee’s mark is all the more remarkable because she carded the 61 on a par 72 course; Stackhouse’s came on a par 71.
During her record round, Lee tallied 11 birdies and seven pars. She posted a school record 7 under par 29 on the back nine.
“I can’t remember the last time I had that much fun playing a round of golf, because everything was so easy and I just was having so much fun,” she told CUBuffs.com.
Lee went on to win the tournament by crushing the CU record with an 18-under score of 198. Her five-stroke win matches the second-largest margin of victory in school history, and her three tournament wins as a Buff is a CU best.
Lee was named September’s Pac-12 Golfer of the Month. Morten Toft Hansen (Econ’20) claimed the men’s award after four top-10 finishes, including two in the top five.
Photo courtesy CU Athletics
