Ras-Anderica, Park Finish Top 10 at ACC

GREENSBORO, N.C. – Two Top 10 finishes by sophomores Leticia Ras-Anderica and Rika Park guided the Miami Hurricanes women’s golf team to a fifth-place finish Sunday at the 2013 ACC Championship.

The Hurricanes tied for fifth with North Carolina at 72-over 924, shooting a final-round 306, which was good for the second-lowest final round tally Sunday.

“We’re really excited about this,” third-year head coach Patti Rizzo said. “The fifth-place finish should be enough to secure us a bid into the NCAA Regional. We’re feeling great about where we are. I said it’s all relative, we’ll take this.”

Duke won the team title with a three-day total of 882, winning by 24 strokes over NC State, who finished at 906. Virginia finished third with a final score of 909, while Florida State came in fourth at 919.

Taking the individual title was Virginia’s Brittney Altomare, who finished at 4-over 217 and bested Duke’s Laetitia Beck by two strokes.

A trio of individual golfers tied for third, including Miami’s Ras-Anderica. The Spaniard, who carded eagles during each of the first two rounds, shot a final-round 4-over 75, good for a three-day total of 8-over 221.

Park also turned in her own Top 10 performance, going 2-over 73 on Sunday. Park finished tied for sixth at 10-over 223.

“Rika [Park] and Leticia [Ras-Anderica] played great,” Rizzo said. “Carina [Cuculiza] was solid today and Christina [Ocampo] held her own throughout the weekend.”

Wrapping up their first ACC Championship were freshmen Christina Ocampo and Laura Hendee. Ocampo finished in 31st place at 28-over 236, while Hendee placed 45th at 52-over 265. After turning in rounds of 83 and 82 the first two days, junior Carina Cuculiza closed the weekend with a 79 as she finished 39th with a 31-over 244.

With the help of 18 total birdies and two Ras-Anderica eagles, Miami concludes its best showing at the ACC Championship since 2005, when the Canes placed fifth during their inaugural ACC Championship.

The Hurricanes will now await their NCAA postseason fate. With the fifth-place finish, the Canes have made a strong case to earn their first NCAA Regional bid since 2005. The NCAA Selection Show will take place Monday, April 29 at 9 p.m. ET on NCAA.com.