BILLINGS, Mont. – With a second consecutive even-par round of 72 and a program record-breaking 54-hole score, Klara Kleinig earned individual medalist honors and led Chadron State to a second-place finish at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational, hosted by Montana State Billings at the Lake Hills Golf Course.
After previously shooting 2-over 74 on Sunday and even-par 72 on Monday, Kleinig shot another 72 during Tuesday's third round to finish with a three-day score of 218, just 2-over-par. Kleinig's score breaks the 54-hole program scoring record of 226 (10-over), previously set by Jordan Grasis at the 2024 RMAC Championships, by eight strokes.
The individual win is the first in college for Kleinig, a junior from Leipzig, Germany, who attended Silver Lake High School in Kansas, and the first medalist for the Chadron State women's program since Macy Kleve won this same event on the same course a year ago with a 36-hole score of 6-over 150. Kleve finished tied for sixth in this year's tournament.
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Kleinig entered Tuesday with a one-stroke lead over Montana State Billings's Pygmy Kompoj, and ended the day leading by that same margin. Kleinig and Kompoj both shot 72s on Tuesday, which were tied with one another for the low round in the tournament during Tuesday's action.
After bogeys on hole No. 1 and No. 2 to begin Tuesday's round, Kleinig closed the tournament strong, shooting 14 pars and two birdies across her final 16 holes and finishing the final back nine in 1-under-par 35 strokes.
Across all three days of the event, no golfer had more pars than Kleinig's 39. Kleinig also shot a combined 1-under-par on all par-4 holes across all three days of the tournament, with no other golfer managing better than 4-over-par on those holes.
While Kleinig was the star of the show, the Eagles placed three golfers on the leaderboard's top 12 to help lead the Eagles to a second-place team finish. Chadron State shot 73-over 937 as a team, with a team-best round of 23-over-par 311 on Tuesday.
Macy Kleve helped solidify Chadron State's place by shooting a 74 on Tuesday, the third-lowest round of the day behind Kleinig and Kompoj. Kleve's three-day score of 14-over 230 helped the CSC sophomore finish sixth, as Kleve climbed four spots in the standings on Tuesday.
Lauren Knapp had a strong showing, led by a Sunday score of 6-over-par 78 in round one. Knapp finished at 26-over 242 and tied for 12th place in the overall standings. Knapp did well on par-5s, combining to shoot just 1-over-par on those holes during the event.
Maggie Teague shot an 82 on Tuesday to be part of Chadron State's four team-scoring golfers alongside Kleinig, Kleve and Knapp (83). Brooklyn Tychsen (24th place) and Taegan Bach (29th) both shot 89s on Tuesday.
Chadron State finished 39 strokes behind team winners Montana State Billings, but finished 16 strokes ahead of third-place MSU Denver after entering Tuesday with only a two-stroke lead over the Roadrunners. Kleinig also distanced herself in the individual standings, as after her one-stroke win over Kompoj, Kleinig finished a full nine strokes ahead of third-place Kenzie Schroeder of South Dakota Mines.
The Eagles have one more competition during their fall schedule - the Hardrocker Fall Invite in Rapid City on Monday, October 12 and Tuesday, October 13.
