Katona, Zanatta Post Top-10 Finishes; Chippewas Place 6th at Rio Verde

Sunday, February 23

Rio Verde, Ariz. (Rio Verde Country Club)

10:30 a.m. ET

Central Michigan University

Rio Verde Collegiate

Katona, Zanatta Post Top-10 Finishes; Chippewas Place 6th at Rio Verde Image

CMU's Hailey Katona finished with an even-par 216 to tie for seventh in the Rio Verde Collegiate in Rio Verde, Ariz. Katona's 54-hole total ties for the second best in CMU women's golf history.

Photo by: Jack Reeber '23,M'25 - @jackreeber.raw

Katona, Zanatta Post Top-10 Finishes; Chippewas Place 6th at Rio Verde

2/23/2025 9:06:00 PM | Women's Golf

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By: Andy Sneddon

RIO VERDE, Ariz. – Hailey Katona closed with a 1-under par 71 and finished in a tie for seventh place on Sunday to lead the Central Michigan women's golf team during the final round of the Rio Verde Collegiate at Rio Verde Country Club.

Katona, who finished with an even-par 216, led the Chippewas to a 296 team score for a 54-hole, 895 total, good for sixth place in the 21-team field.

"Definitely really happy with the performance," CMU coach Ryan Williams said. "We played solid all three days. We stuck to our gameplan and executed it pretty well. It wasn't always pretty for everyone, but we maintained a positive attitude and really checked in on that for the week.

"Good things happen when you stay positive and you have a gameplan that you know you can execute and you just believe that if you keep executing, it'll happen. For the most part that's what I saw from all of them this week. That's why we played to our potential, or close to it, this week."

The Chippewas' Sunday 296 ties for the fifth best 18-hole team score in program history, and their 895 total is the third best.

Katona's 216 total ties for the second best 54-hole score in program history and her final-round 71 ties for the fourth best. On Saturday, she shot a 2-under 70, tying for the third best round in program history.

CMU freshman Ella Zanatta posted her third consecutive 1-over 73 on Sunday to finish at 219 and tied for 10^th. Sophomore Rachel Niskanen closed with a 5-over 77 for a 228 total, while freshmen Lauren Davis and Brooke Morris both shot 4-over 76.

Niskanen finished tied for 43^rd and David finished among a group tied for 76^th in the 104-player field.

It marked the fourth time in six stroke-play tournaments this season that both Katona and Zanatta have finished in the top 10. Zanatta's 219 is a career best.

Katona made her one and only birdie of the day on her 18^th hole after carding 17 consecutive pars. The graduate student in her first season as a Chippewa made 43 pars in the tournament, ranking second in the field in that category.

"She had so many birdie chances and she didn't let those missed opportunities get her down and she didn't let that make her be overly aggressive in certain situations," Williams said. "She really maintained a good, even mindset and waited for it to happen.

"She's an extremely talented player. This performance is not a surprise, and it wouldn't be a surprise if she puts a lot more of these together in the next couple months."

The steady Zanatta made a team-high eight birdies, three in her final round.

"Ella was her normal, steady self," Williams said. "She plays really mature golf. She's smart out there, she knows what she's capable of, she knows how to pick a high-percentage shot, and execute it.

"If she does that, she can put a good round together and that's what she did this week. She's a really solid player and she has a really solid head on her shoulders. This performance is another example of that."

Davis' first-round 74 was her career best and Morris' final-round 76 was her career best. Their respective 54-hole totals were also career bests, while Niskanen's 36-hole 151 total was a career best.

"Rachel didn't have her best stuff, but she still strung together three really solid rounds," Williams said. "She does a really great job of just managing herself out there and gets a lot out of rounds. It's great to see.

"Lauren had two really, really good rounds and she wasn't really even hitting it that well. Her short game was extremely impressive this week and we love to see that. I think she should take a ton of confidence away from this.

"Brooke bounced back today in a big way. The first two days were tough and then she got some putts to fall today. She responded today when we needed her and it's good to see that happen."

Collectively, the Chippewas made 171 pars, which ranked third behind tournament champion California Baptist and Xavier, which finished third.

"We understood what the course was asking," Williams said. "I think it had a lot of good birdie opportunities, but if you're out there hunting for birdies you can get bit. We didn't do that and that was really the difference.

"It's been there, we've had that potential, we just really haven't put it together. The big thing is continuing to have self-belief and not letting missed shots or anything like that really eat away. I think this week we got more comfortable with our games and really stuck to a good gameplan."

CMU finished second among the six Mid-American Conference teams in the field, one shot behind fifth-place Ball State (894). CMU finished ahead of Ohio, Akron, Bowling Green and host Western Michigan.

"We didn't talk a whole lot about it, but that was really good for us," Williams said. "We've taken a couple beatings from a couple of those teams and it's good to get them back and show ourselves that we can compete with them, that we can play right with them, that we can beat them. That was big and I think it's going to be big when it comes time to head to the MAC Tournament."

California Baptist closed with a 285 for an 864 total and a one-shot victory over Illinois State.

California Baptist's Pusanisa Ekkantrong shot an 8-under 64 for a 9-under 207 total to claim medalist honors. She finished five shots ahead of Illinois State's Jinyoung Yun.