Statesmen Finish Sixth in Oklahoma
Oklahoma City, Okla. — With one last event before the Heart of America Athletic Conference Championships, William Penn women’s golf packed their bags for a two-day stint in Oklahoma. The Susie Maxwell Berning Classic welcomed 18 teams to Lincoln Park Golf Course, where the teams tested themselves on the east course. William Penn improved their score from round one to round two and finished the event in sixth place overall, with a total of 616 strokes. Bailee Frayne (Jr., Garner, Iowa, Elementary Education) and Julia Hippely (Jr., Huron, Ohio General Accounting) led the way for the team in a tie in17th-place.
The east course at Lincoln Park caps out at 6,420 yards and checks in as a par 70, with two par-five holes and four par-three holes. The layout and terrain pose more of a challenge for the golfers, as only a couple holes feature a water hazard. At the end of the event, Oklahoma City University did just enough in round two to take first place, as they edged out Redlands CC 599 to 600. Texas Wesleyan was third with a 602. Redland’s Marvelyn Karitka claimed the top individual prize with total score of 142, just two over par for the event.
The navy and gold were not far off the pace at the end of day one. The top teams had scores of 300 and WPU was tied for sixth with a 312. Hippely laid down one of her best rounds of the year, as she emerged with a 75, good enough to be in a four-way tie for ninth. She picked up two birdies, one on each nine, to cancel out a couple of her seven bogies. She also had nine pars on day one.
Bailee was two shots behind her with a 77, as she had one birdie on day one on the par-four 14th. With 12 pars, Frayne started the day even through the first five holes. Jaclyn Wojchiechowski (So., Graytown, Ohio, Business Management) also had one birdie in round one, as she picked up a three on the par-four third hole. Three double-bogies pushed her total score to 80.
80 was also the score for Carlee Frayne (Fr., Garner, Iowa, Sports Management), who picked up a birdie on the par-five fourth hole. She only had one double-bogie but ended up with nine bogies and seven pars. Alexis Guimaraes (Sr., San Ramon, Calif., Psychology) was right behind with a round of 81. She picked up birdies on the third and 15th holes, but also struggled to get down in par, with only five evens over the first 18 holes.
With a better understanding of the course, William Penn returned on day two and sliced some strokes off the team total. From a 312, the Statesmen emerged with a 304 the second time around, good for 616 for the event. That kept the team two strokes ahead of Bellevue, who finished with a 618, but 10 behind fifth place Wayland Baptist.
Bailee might have started with a double bogie but picked up a birdie on the sixth hole and kept her score pretty tidy the rest of the round, with final score of 76 and a two-day total of 153, good for a tie with Hippely for 17th. Frayne finished tied for second in terms of total pars for the event, as she picked up 24, just two off the top mark of 26. She also finished in the top half in terms of performance on both par threes and par fours, as she was +2 on par threes and +8 on par fours.
Hippely was the only player to add to her score on day two, as she went from a 75 to a 78 to also end the event with a 153. She picked up a birdie on the eighth hole but two doubles on the back nine spoiled an otherwise solid round. She was right behind Bailee in terms of being in the top half on par three and four performance. In addition, Hippely picked up 19 pars over 36 holes.
Carlee and Wojchiechowski mirrored each other, as both shaved off four strokes to finish with scores of 76 for round two, totallying a 156 (T-27) for the tournament. Wojchiechowski found a birdie on the par-four seventh and did not pick up anything worse than a bogey the second time around. She finished near the top with a +2 mark on par threes, was middle of the pack on par fives, and made 19 birdies over the two days. The younger Frayne put up birdies on both the par-four fifth and the par-five 15th to help cancel out her six bogies and one double bogie. She showed off her long-game to the field, as she finished with the fourth best rating (-2) on par-five holes. She also was near the top-half of the field with three birdies.
Guimaraes was the biggest mover for WPU on day two, as she dropped five shots off her score to pick up a 76 and a total score of 157. She had only one double on day two and axed that with a birdie to start the round on the par-four third hole. With only four other bogies, Guimaraes ended up tied for 32nd in the field of 98 players. She also finished with three birdies for the round and placed in the middle of the pack in all performance metrics.
As a team, the Statesmen were the third-best team on par-three holes, with a combined mark of +12, four off the top-two teams who were +12. WPU was seventh in score for par-fours and eighth on par-five holes. The squad finished fourth when it came to total pars (94) and sixth in total birdies with 13. Only two players had eagles across the field.
“A big final round by these girls today,” said Head Coach Bailey Rimes. “They came out of the gate firing and finishing steady, shooting +2 thru the last three holes! I am extremely excited for the next few tournaments, with our varsity reserve playing at Mount Mercy and Grinnell, and then Heart Championships.”
Next Event: The Heart Championships are April 26-27 at the Golf Club at Creekmoor in Raymore, Mo.
