Statesmen Take Fourth, Guimaraes Top Finisher
Le Mars–The opening tournament for the fall half of the William Penn women’s golf season got under way over two nice days at the Willow Creek Golf Club. With some top schools on hand for the two-day event, the Statesmen battled for a podium finish. Coming just short, William Penn completed the invitational with a score of 967 over three rounds, good for fourth out of eight teams.
Morningside took the grand prize with a team score of 877, a cool 26 shots clear of Texas Wesleyan. Wayland Baptist finished with a 935, just out of reach of WPU by 22 shots. Laia Badosa crushed the competition for Morningside, as she took home the individual title at nine-under par for the event, a three-round total of 207. While just off the podium, the Statesmen had stout numbers for their first event of the fall calendar.
Alexis Guimaraes (Sr., San Ramon, Calif., Psychology) finished as the highest player on the board for the navy and gold as she placed 14th. Her first round was a strong showing of 75, which had her tied for eighth out of the 45 golfers. She battled through a tough second round to pull out an 81, returning with a good round of 77 to end the event with a total score of 233. Guimaraes also had some solid deeper stats on the tournament as she posted the fourth-most birdies with eight, along with collecting 25 pars. She also finished in the top-10 in stroke average on par-four holes.
Bailee Frayne (Jr., Garner, Iowa, Elementary Education) was next up for the Statesmen with a total score of 238, putting her in 20th on the leaderboard. She started off round one with a score of 79 before she completed round two with an 81. Round three saw her post her best tally with a 78. She also finished tied for seventh for most pars over the two days with 27, while also collecting five birdies.
Julia Hippely (Jr., Huron, Ohio General Accounting) tied for 23rd for the event. Her first round was her best, with a score of 80. She followed that with rounds of 83 and 85 to finish the tournament with a 248. While she nabbed only two birdies, 27 pars tied her with Frayne in that department. A 248 was also the score of Carlee Frayne (Fr., Garner, Iowa, Sports Management), as the newcomer made her first career start for the Statesmen. She had back-to-back rounds of 80 with a final round of 88. Frayne garnered 24 pars over the 72 holes and two birdies as she kept pace with her teammate to finish 23rd as well.
Jaclyn Wojchiechowski (So., Graytown, Ohio, Business Management) was not far behind those two as she put up a grand total of 251, placing her in a tie for 26th. Similar to last year, the now-sophomore dropped her score with each round, going from an opening of 87, to a second round of 86, and a great finish with a 78. She had 21 pars and four birdies, but was the best on the team on the par-five holes, as she finished two-over par on the long holes.
As a team, the Statesmen were third overall with 124 pars for the tournament and fourth with 21 birdies.
“It was a deep field and a great tournament,” said Head Coach Bailey Rimes. “It was the first tournament of the year for our varisty squad and we are excited to have the opportunity to improve from here.”
Next Event: The team is scheduled to participate in the Spring Lake CC Invitational at the Spring Lake Country Club in Quincy, Ill., on September 28th.
