BLOOMINGTON, MINN. – The St. Catherine University golf team had a pretty spectacular showing in its final tune up before the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Golf Championship. The Wildcats dropped 11 strokes and jumped from sixth to first place at the College City Challenge to win their first tournament of the 2016 season. Leading the charge for St. Kate's was none other than Kaitlyn Alvarez (Eau Claire, Wis. / North), who was named MIAC Co-Women's Golf Athlete-of-the-Week by the conference sports information directors Tuesday afternoon.

All season long, Alvarez has been one of the top golfers for the Wildcats, but when her team needed her most, she shot the round of her life. The junior carded the lowest score of any St. Kate's golfer in the first round, a 77, to put her in third place behind golfers from St. Thomas and Bethel.

Like her teammates, Alvarez also had some work to do to claim her spot at the top of the leaderboard. In the process, she proved to be the most consistent golfer of the tournament. As many of the top golfers struggled, Alvarez stayed steady, shooting her second consecutive 77 to finish the tournament with a two-day score of 154. That score gave her a share of the lead and the first individual tournament victory of her career.

Alvarez is just the third Wildcat in program history to win a tournament as an individual and the first to do so this season. Her teammates Abby Conzemius (Chanhassen, Minn. / Minnetonka) and Sydney Busker (Detroit Lakes, Minn. / Detroit Lakes) are the other two golfers to earn medal honors at individual tournaments. 

Thanks to Alvarez and her teammates' performances, St. Kate's won the College City Challenge by one stroke over Carleton College with a two-day score of 641. It's just the third time in school history that the Wildcats have won a tournament  and the first time this 2016 season.

Alvarez already had plenty to boast about before her tournament win this weekend. She is a two-time All-MIAC golfer and earned Academic All-MIAC honors both her first and second year with the program.