Statesmen Fall Just Short of League Title
William Penn Women’s Athletics
Coal Valley, Ill.–The William Penn women’s golf team finished the most successful season in school history by nearly taking home a Midwest Collegiate Conference title Friday and Saturday.
The 23rd-ranked Statesmen placed second out of seven teams at the MCC Championships held at the par-72 Oakwood Country Club. William Penn and Grand View both shot 345 on Friday, but WPU’s Saturday score of 336 was 13 strokes higher than the Vikings’ 323.
With the win, Grand View earns the MCC’s automatic berth to the NAIA National Championships on May 21-24 at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in Lincoln, Neb.
Grand View’s Kenzie Rottinghaus made it a clean sweep for the Vikings as she claimed the individual medalist honor with a 161 (86-75).
Courtney Kronmuller (Sr., Fountain Valley, Calif., Digital Communications) paced the navy and gold in her final collegiate tournament. The senior placed fifth with a 167 (84-83).
“Courtney has been the heart of this program for three years,” Head Coach Nik Rule said. “She truly embraced the changes in the culture that I implemented when I took over and has been a champion for what it means to be a Statesman. It is going to be different not having her around next year, but she will have a permanent lasting effect on this program.”
“I am proud of her, proud that she played her college golf here, and proud that she will forever be a part of the William Penn Golf family,” Rule added.
Maggie Yang (So., Chino, Calif., Biology) was tied for the tournament lead after the first day with an 82, but an 88 on Saturday dropped the sophomore to a tie for seventh at 170.
Demi Coertze (Fr., Johannesburg, South Africa, Undecided) was also in the top ten, tying for ninth at 171 (91-80). Saturday’s 80 was the third-lowest score at the Championships.
Ashley Manhnieo (So., Las Vegas, Nev., Business Management) just missed the top ten in a tie for 11th at 173 (88-85), while Natalie Booton (Fr., Mount Pleasant, Iowa, Undecided) was 23rd at 183 (93-90).
Rule was not surprised it came down to the Statesmen and Vikings for the right to go to nationals.
“We beat them three times this season with every time very close, but unfortunately they played one of their best rounds of the year,” Rule said. “We tip our hats to them for a good performance.”
“Being in contention in the conference tournament was a good learning experience for us,” Rule added. “We had a really productive season this year, and despite this weekend’s result we can hold our heads high. We are a really young team and we have a great recruiting class coming in; we are excited about the future.”
