William Penn Wins First Spring Event, Takes Runner-Up in Second Tourney
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Maumelle, Ark./Moravia–The Statesmen women’s golf team was busy battling poor weather conditions as it opened its spring season this past week.
On Monday and Tuesday, #28 William Penn won the Central Baptist Mustang Invitational at the Country Club of Arkansas with a final score of 721 (355-366). It is the program’s fourth title of the year.
On Saturday, the navy and gold finished second out of three teams in a rain-shortened Iowa Intercollegiate Championships at The Preserve Golf Course with a 172 in just nine holes. #20 Bellevue (Neb.) earned the title four strokes ahead at 168.
Maggie Yang (So., Chino, Calif., Biology) paced the way in Arkansas by placing third with a 171 (80-91). Alejandra Arellano of Seminole State CC (Fla.) won the event at 162 (79-83).
Demi Coertze (Fr., Johannesburg, South Africa, Undecided) was right on Yang’s heels, taking fourth at 175 (87-88).
Courtney Kronmuller (Sr., Fountain Valley, Calif., Digital Communications) was also in the top ten (out of 41 players) by tying for seventh at 180 (90-90).
Ashley Manhnieo (So., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management), who was 24th at 198 (101-97), and Natalie Booton (Fr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Undecided), who was 26th at 202 (98-104), rounded out the team’s scoring.
“We are disappointed with how we played in Arkansas, but I truly believe we can take some good away from our three days there,” Head Coach Nik Rule said. “What it shakes out to is that we are still a very young team and that youth showed this weekend.”
“We had a productive meeting after the tournament,” Rule added. “Good golf teams can win when they play poorly and we did that, but great teams find a way to be better than they have ever been after playing poorly. We look forward to bouncing back from this and with three weeks until conference, this is a great wake-up call.”
It truly was a great warning for the team as the Statesmen responded well by nearly knocking off Bellevue in its shortened ‘home’ event. With players starting on different holes with the ‘shotgun’ start, placings were determined on an individual’s score compared to par.
Yang won the event with a two-over-par score of 38. It is her fourth career title and second of the season.
“I feel confident in saying that there is no one that has worked harder outside of practice since January than Maggie,” Rule said. “I constantly saw her spending extra time at our indoor training facility fine-tuning her swing. She was among a few that really took some initiative to make their games better outside of our winter practices. It just goes to show you that hard work pays off.”
Kronmuller was next, tying for fifth at +6 (44), while Coertze was eighth at +8 (44). Danielle Giannotti (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz., Undecided), at +9 (46), and Booton, at +16 (54), rounded out the varsity scoring.
The program’s reserve team was also in action with Manhnieo leading the way at +9 (47). The squad finished with a final tally of 207.
Lindsay Dorn (Fr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Elementary Education) was next at +14 (51), while Samantha Lingle (Fr., Manilla, Iowa, Undecided) was +16 (53) and Janet Kuskie (Fr., Grant, Neb., Undecided) was +19 (56).
“We had a very good week of practice and I believe that we are really starting to gain some momentum,” Rule said. “Bellevue is a top-20 program and we were just a few shots back of them. The weather has been our worst enemy this spring; I have never seen it like this before but we are not using it as an excuse. We just have to find a way to prepare for conference.”
Next: William Penn travels to Riverside Friday and Saturday to compete in the Ashford Invitational at the Blue Top Ridge Golf Course.
