Alexandria Golf Club to Host 2015 UMAC Women's Golf Championship
2015 UMAC Women's Golf Championship Webpage
ALEXANDRIA, Minn. – The nine women's golf teams in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) will compete in the 2015 UMAC Women's Golf Championship at Alexandria Golf Club in Alexandria Minn., this Thursday, Friday and Saturday. This will be the first time the women will compete at the UMAC Golf Championships since the fall of 2010.
Bethany Lutheran College, who took first place at the UMAC Preview event in early September, and who has finished in the top spot at four other events this season, enters the championship looking to defend their ground. As a team Bethany Lutheran averages a 407 per round team score per contest. The Vikings are led by Jessica Neaton and Allie Curtis who are both averaging 97.1 per 18-holes this season, and are seventh in conference rankings.
Claiming the 2015 title will not be an easy task for the Vikings as they will have a competitive field of UMAC teams challenging for the top spot. The University of Minnesota Morris, who finished in second place and sixteen strokes behind the Vikings at the Preview event, hopes to be in the hunt for the trophy this season. The Cougars who are ranked second in the conference and average a 407.3 team score this season have finished in first place in three outings this season and just last week finished in first place at the Mid Country Bank Classic. Kelsey Wattenhofer leads the Cougars this season with an average score of 96.6, which puts her at fifth place in the conference.
The College of St. Scholastica finished third at the Preview event and currently sits fifth in UMAC team scoring. Leading the Saints so far this season is sophomore Amanda Broman and freshman Tasha Maninga. The Saints are a first year program this year and are looking to improve and compete for the top spot at the UMAC Championships.
Finishing just six strokes behind St. Scholastica at the Preview event was the University of Wisconsin-Superior. The Yellowjackets, another new team to the UMAC, are anchored by Hayley Botten who is ranked fourth in the conference averaging 94.3 this season. The top team performance for the Yellowjackets this season was at the UNW Invitational where they took first place shooting an 18-hole team score of 384.
Following UW-Superior at the UMAC Preview event was North Central University. The Rams, who hope to improve upon their fifth place Preview finish at the Championship event, are led by Tera Weyer. Weyer has earned individual medalist honors at both the Northwestern and Viking Invitational this season. In addition, her 18-hole average score of 89.6 currently ranks second in the conference.
While Crown College did not card a team score at the Preview event this fall, they have continued to improve since that time and are currently third in the conference team rankings. The Storm have an ace with Paulina Dejamco who is the conference individual leader with an average of 86.4 on the season, and has taken first place at multiple events this season.
Martin Luther College has continued to progress after not posting a team score at the Preview event, and have competed in five events since September 3rd. Leading the Knights this year has been freshman Katheryn Hansen.
The University of Northwestern who also did not card a team score at the UMAC Preview event has great expectations of improving on their previous performance at Alexandria Golf Club. The Eagles will depend on junior Naomi Black who ranks sixth in conference standings, and has continued to compete at a high level this season.
The nine UMAC teams will tee off at 11 a.m. on Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Alexandria Golf Club. The teams are making great advancements towards earning their first ever automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championship this spring.