St. Peter, Minn. – After finishing in third place each of the last two seasons, the Gustavus Adolphus women’s golf team will look to take home a MIAC title this weekend when it competes in the 2014 MIAC Championships at Bunker Hills Golf Course in Coon Rapids Minn. The three-day tournament will kick off Saturday, Oct. 4 and will conclude on Monday, Oct. 7.
Gustavus will enter the weekend with four out of its five golfers having had experience at the MIAC Championships. Senior Jordan Drenttel (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) has been the Gusties’ leader so far in 2014, as she leads the team with a stroke average of 81 and has recorded two top-five finishes including a tie for fourth place at the Geogianni Memorial Invitational and tie for third place at the College City Challenge. Drenttel will look to improve upon her 16th place finish at last season’s MIAC Championships. Mae Meierhenry (So., Sioux Falls, S.D.) has stuck right with Drenttel this season. Meierhenry will head into the weekend with an 81.1 stroke average and has two top-ten finishes in her name including a tie for fourth place at the Geogianni Memorial Invitational and a sixth place finish at the Augustana College Invitational. Meierhenry totaled a 244 (+28) at the 2013 MIAC Championships, good for a tenth place tie and a spot on the 2013 All-Conference Team.
McKenzie Swenson (Fy., St. Louis Park, Minn.), Lauren Johnson (Sr. Plymouth, Minn.) and Sam Falk (Sr., Glenwood, Minn.) will round out the Gustavus lineup. In her first collegiate season, Swenson was third on the team in stroke average and will go into the weekend with an 82.4 average after eight rounds. Johnson averages an 84.1 and will bring playoff experience with her this weekend. Johnson fired a 245 (+29) at the 2013 MIAC Championships, good for a 13th place tie. Falk will round out the lineup with a great deal of experience at MIAC Championships. Dating back to 2011, Falk has garnered All-Conference honors all three years, which includes a third place showing with a 232 (+16) her rookie campaign – the best finish by a first-year golfer in the Gustavus women’s golf history.
“We have a seasoned group, led this year by Jordy Drenttel, and returning All- MIAC players in Mae and Sam,” said head coach Scott Moe. “Lauren is starting to play really well right now and McKenzie has played great as a first-year player and has worked extremely hard these past few weeks. I am very excited about the chances of our women’s team bringing home the MIAC title.”
Gustavus finished third in last season’s MIAC Championship after shooting a 972 (+108). Carleton placed second with a 952, and St. Thomas took the championship with a 951.
“We are facing a very tough Carleton team and a strong St. Thomas program, along with other teams that are starting to peak at the right time,” said Moe. “If we play well as a team, we can play with, and beat any of them. Our performances up to this point have proven that we can post better numbers than we have so far…we have yet to post four good numbers during a round and we’re just hoping that is saved up for this weekend.”
GUSTAVUS LINKS
Roster | Schedule/Results | Statistics
FROM THE MIAC
The three-day, 54-hole MIAC Golf Championships will tee off Saturday at 11:28 a.m. at Bunker Hills. Sunday’s second round will also tee off at 11:28 a.m., and Monday’s final round will tee off at 9 a.m. Spectators are welcome to attend and there is no admission fee. Spectators are encouraged to read and follow the tournament’s spectator rules.
There will be a short awards ceremony following Monday’s final round to honor the top teams and individuals. The championship team will receive the MIAC championship plaque, as well as the conference’s automatic bid to the 2015 NCAA Division III Golf Championships. The top 10 individual finishers will be named to the All-Championship team, and will be automatically eligible for All-Conference honors in the spring.
Fans who can’t make the trip to Coon Rapids can follow all the action on the MIAC Golf Championships web site, which will include unofficial hole-by-hole live scoring updates, results, pairings, tee times, recaps, photos and more. Fans can interact on social media throughout the tournament on the MIAC’s Facebook page, or on Twitter using the hashtag #MIACgolf. The MIAC’s YouTube channel also includes a promotional video for the event.
FOLLOW THE ACTION
There are numerous ways fans that aren’t traveling to Coon Rapids can follow all the action throughout the tournament. The MIAC is enhancing its (unofficial) live scoring, and now will offer hole-by-hole updates through Golfstat’s live scoring system. Fans will easily be able to track team and individual progress throughout all three rounds.
The MIAC has a championship home page for the event, that will serve as the online home of the tournament. The championship page will include tee times, pairings and results as they become available, as well as recaps, photos and more.
Championship Home Page | Women’s Live Scoring | MIAC Preview