ALBUQUERQUE -- At the final round of the Dick McGuire, the Cougars accomplished their goal of moving up from sixth to fifth place and beating top-ranked teams.

"Our motto today was to move up in the standings," junior Margaret Gibby said. "Everyone finished strong and that made the difference in the final round."

Gibby led BYU to fifth place with her steady play as she finished the tournament tied at 27th place and help the Cougars beat No. 20 UNLV. The Cougars placed among top teams at the McGuire and improved their play from last year's finish at 16th.

"I was proud that the girls beat several teams who were ranked ahead of them," head coach Sue Nyhus. "We had players come through for us when we needed it."

Senior Nicole Newren-Chandler had BYU's best score for the final round (+2), shooting three birdies in the front nine. She had the greatest improvement from the previous rounds and closed the tournament tied for 37th place.

"There was a lot of pressure when we were tied at sixth," Newren-Chandler said. "Overall the team played exceptionally well, but we had to play smart to stay ahead."

The third day was a difficult golfing day for the Cougars, as the wind made it tough to control the ball on the fairway. Nyhus said even with the weather conditions, the team battled through it.

Freshmen Alexis Edwards and Rachel Newren had a strong showing at their first collegiate tournament at 20th and 29th place, respectively. Although Edwards' score was not recorded with BYU's final result, she displayed tremendous potential as she competed as an individual.

The leader and host of the tournament, New Mexico, won for the third straight year with a score of five-under-par. Junior Kailin Downs led the Lobos, tying the 54-hole record with a score of 70-68-74--212 (-7) en route to claiming her first career individual championship.

BYU returns to action Oct. 6-8 at the Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational in Redmond, Washington.

Complete results can be seen on www.golfstat.com.

TEAMS:
1. New Mexico -          295-281-295-871 (-7)
2. Oklahoma State -      300-285-302-887 (+11)
3. Tulsa -               310-288-304-902 (+26)
4. Pepperdine -          306-289-314-909 (+33)
5. BYU -                 309-303-311-923 (+47) 
6. Texas A&M -           310-303-313-926 (+50)
T7. Texas Tech -         313-298-316-927 (+51)
T7. UNLV -               307-306-314-927 (+51)
T7. New Mexico State -   310-309-308-927 (+51)
T7. TCU -                310-305-312-927 (+51)
11. San Diego State -    314-306-310-930 (+54)
12. Baylor -             310-302-323-935 (+59)
13. UTEP -               313-299-326-938 (+62)
14. Arizona State -      309-308-322-939 (+63)
15. Hawaii -             323-303-326-952 (+76)
16. Colorado State -     321-308-331-960 (+84)
17. Wyoming -            340-328-336-1004 (+128)
BYU
T20 Alexis Edwards*        78-71-77-226 (+7)
T27 Margaret Gibby	        78-74-77-229 (+10)
T29 Rachel Newren	         80-70-80-230 (+11)
T37 Nicole Newren-Chandler 79-79-75-233 (+14)
T46 Natalie Newren         77-80-79-236 (+17)
T60 Catalina Guacaneme     75-82-83-240 (+21)
* indicates player competing as an individual

PROVO -- The BYU women's golf team will kick off its 2003-04 season on Sept. 25-27 at the 25th annual Dick McGuire Invitational in Albuquerque, N.M.

The Cougars will take their top-qualifying players with three of the five from the same family. The returning Newren sisters from Salt Lake City, senior Nicole and junior Natalie, will be joined by their youngest sister, freshman Rachel Newren.

"It is such a rare occasion that the sisters will play with each other," head coach Sue Nyhus said. "I'm very pleased to have them on our team this year."

This will be one of few times in BYU history where siblings play together on the same team. The sisters also have a brother, sophomore Steve Newren, playing for the University of Utah.

"I'm grateful their parents raised them to be not only talented young women, but very well-rounded individuals," Nyhus said.

The three Newren sisters will be playing together this weekend at the Championship Golf Course, which measures 6,069 yards with a par of 73, hosted by the University of New Mexico.

"It is going to be an exciting year," Nyhus said. "The experienced members of the team have stepped up and are competing well."

The other Cougars playing are junior Margaret Gibby and sophomore Catalina Guacaneme. Both are returners from last season and have competed well in the qualifying rounds that determine the top players going to the tournament.

"I feel confident with all of the returning players," Nyhus said. "I'm very impressed with the depth of the team and we've have already seen improvement from last year."

Gibby and Natalie Newren were starters last season and are looking to compete even stronger this year. Last year, Gibby recorded two top-10 finishes and led BYU with the lowest individual stroke average last season with a 77.5.

At last year's Dick McGuire Invitational, Natalie led the Cougars with a 39th finish. As the lone senior on the team, Nicole will provide experience and leadership for BYU.

Rachel Newren, the youngest of the three sisters, joins the Cougars after earning Utah Player of the Year her junior and senior years in high school. She has been a great asset early with the lowest qualifying score for her first collegiate competition.

Guacaneme, who is the youngest player on the team, finished her freshman year with an overall stroke average of 77.8 and led BYU with a 15th-place finish at the MWC Championships.

The Cougars will begin play of 18 holes Thursday, starting at 10:10 a.m. Friday and Saturday the team will compete according to their scores from the previous rounds. Tee times begin at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday.

The competitive field features 17 teams, four of which played in the 2003 NCAA Championships: Pepperdine (2), Oklahoma State (T5), Arizona State (18), and Tulsa (21).

The complete field: Arizona State, Baylor, Brigham Young, Colorado State, Hawai'i, New Mexico, New Mexico State, Oklahoma State, Pepperdine, San Diego State, Texas A&M, Texas El-Paso, Texas Tech, TCU, Tulsa, UNLV and Wyoming.