Completed Event: Women's Golf at Rainbow Wahine Invitational on October 20, 2025 , , 12th of 19
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at Rainbow Wahine Invitational
12th of 19
Grand Canyon University Athletics
Lopes move into 1st at MW Championship
4/22/2026 4:00:00 PM | Women's Golf
GCU's Vakasiuola enters final round in 2nd; team holds 1-shot lead
RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. – The second round of a three-day tournament is considered moving day, where teams tend to move up or down in big swings on the leaderboard ahead the final round.
Grand Canyon's play trended only up, so much so that the two positions it gained after Tuesday's second round put the Lopes in sole possession of first place in the 10-team Mountain West Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.
LEADERBOARD
In its first Mountain West season, GCU seeks its first Mountain West title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament.
GCU is 8 over par, one shot better than second-place Nevada, its Tuesday partner. UNLV is third at 10 over followed by San José State at 13 over in fourth place.
"We are very pleased but not satisfied with our round today, as we still gave away a few shots," Lopes head coach Brent Nicoson said. "However, we challenged the team to fight until the end and to look at each other and trust that each team member will give everything they have until the last putt was holed. They did exactly that, so we are pleased as coaches. We preach to stay calm and stay tough, and we needed that mindset today as the wind picked up on the back nine and our players handled it pretty well."
The Lopes' stellar play includes freshman Alexis Vakasiuola being two strokes back of the individual tournament lead. Vakasiuola is 5 under par to be alone in second place, trailing only Boise State's Leia Chung at 7 under entering Thursday's final round.
The Combs High School alumnus shot 1 under Wednesday after a 4-under first round Tuesday. Through 36 holes, Vakasiuola has only two bogeys, seven birdies and 27 pars, tied for third-most pars in the 50-player field.
Vakasiuola birdied the second hole before her card took its first blemish with a bogey on the par-3 fifth. She bounced back with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to close out her front nine at 2 under par. From there, she notched par on eight of the nine back nine holes, mirroring her first-round back – and sunk a 5-foot par on the 18th to put herself in prime position for the individual medal.
The Lopes are seeking their second Division I conference title and first since winning the WAC in 2017-18. Vakasiuola is looking to become the second Lope to win the individual title in a D-I conference tournament after Siripatsorn Patchana did so in 2018 and 2022.
Part of the moving day success was because of another GCU freshman, Honor Johnson, who moved up 14 spots with an even-par second round. After a 6-over first round, Johnson settled in with three birdies Wednesday and walked off the 18th green with five straight pars. Johnson is 24th, one of three Lopes in the top 25.
The other top-25 member is junior Lena Tremouille, whose veteran mentality has shown as the tournament has gone on. Tremouille carded a 3-over second round but is tied with Vakasiuola with 27 pars for the tournament and heads into Thursday in the 13th place at 3 over.
GCU junior Jess Haines is just outside the top 25 at 7 over, recording a 2-over Wednesday. Sophomore teammate Allie Justiz ranks 30th at 8 over and tied the team high with three birdies Wednesday.
"The job today was to be within striking distance tomorrow and our ladies got that job done," Nicoson said. "Hopefully, we can get a good night of rest, stick to the same mindset and process and put together a solid round tomorrow."
The Lopes have made the most of par-3 holes, leading the field with a 3.1 scoring average. They rank second on par-5 holes with a 4.9 scoring average. They have 21 birdies (tied for fifth) and 123 pars, only two back of San José State for the tourney lead.
GCU concludes the Mountain West Championship on Thursday, starting at 9:10 a.m. on hole No. 1. Each of the five Lopes' golfers will tee off in 10-minute intervals.
Grand Canyon's play trended only up, so much so that the two positions it gained after Tuesday's second round put the Lopes in sole possession of first place in the 10-team Mountain West Championship at Mission Hills Country Club.
LEADERBOARD
In its first Mountain West season, GCU seeks its first Mountain West title and the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Regional Tournament.
GCU is 8 over par, one shot better than second-place Nevada, its Tuesday partner. UNLV is third at 10 over followed by San José State at 13 over in fourth place.
"We are very pleased but not satisfied with our round today, as we still gave away a few shots," Lopes head coach Brent Nicoson said. "However, we challenged the team to fight until the end and to look at each other and trust that each team member will give everything they have until the last putt was holed. They did exactly that, so we are pleased as coaches. We preach to stay calm and stay tough, and we needed that mindset today as the wind picked up on the back nine and our players handled it pretty well."
The Lopes' stellar play includes freshman Alexis Vakasiuola being two strokes back of the individual tournament lead. Vakasiuola is 5 under par to be alone in second place, trailing only Boise State's Leia Chung at 7 under entering Thursday's final round.
The Combs High School alumnus shot 1 under Wednesday after a 4-under first round Tuesday. Through 36 holes, Vakasiuola has only two bogeys, seven birdies and 27 pars, tied for third-most pars in the 50-player field.
Vakasiuola birdied the second hole before her card took its first blemish with a bogey on the par-3 fifth. She bounced back with back-to-back birdies on the eighth and ninth holes to close out her front nine at 2 under par. From there, she notched par on eight of the nine back nine holes, mirroring her first-round back – and sunk a 5-foot par on the 18th to put herself in prime position for the individual medal.
The Lopes are seeking their second Division I conference title and first since winning the WAC in 2017-18. Vakasiuola is looking to become the second Lope to win the individual title in a D-I conference tournament after Siripatsorn Patchana did so in 2018 and 2022.
Part of the moving day success was because of another GCU freshman, Honor Johnson, who moved up 14 spots with an even-par second round. After a 6-over first round, Johnson settled in with three birdies Wednesday and walked off the 18th green with five straight pars. Johnson is 24th, one of three Lopes in the top 25.
The other top-25 member is junior Lena Tremouille, whose veteran mentality has shown as the tournament has gone on. Tremouille carded a 3-over second round but is tied with Vakasiuola with 27 pars for the tournament and heads into Thursday in the 13th place at 3 over.
GCU junior Jess Haines is just outside the top 25 at 7 over, recording a 2-over Wednesday. Sophomore teammate Allie Justiz ranks 30th at 8 over and tied the team high with three birdies Wednesday.
"The job today was to be within striking distance tomorrow and our ladies got that job done," Nicoson said. "Hopefully, we can get a good night of rest, stick to the same mindset and process and put together a solid round tomorrow."
The Lopes have made the most of par-3 holes, leading the field with a 3.1 scoring average. They rank second on par-5 holes with a 4.9 scoring average. They have 21 birdies (tied for fifth) and 123 pars, only two back of San José State for the tourney lead.
GCU concludes the Mountain West Championship on Thursday, starting at 9:10 a.m. on hole No. 1. Each of the five Lopes' golfers will tee off in 10-minute intervals.
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Friday, February 07