Flashes use total team effort to secure 23rd consecutive MAC championship
Seniors Chloe Salort and Emily Price received plenty of assistance from their supporting cast while leading the Kent State women’s golf team to its 23rd consecutive Mid-American Conference title.
Salort and Price finished 2-3 for the second straight year, only this time in reverse order. Teammates Jennifer Gu and Mayka Hoogeboom also cracked the top eight for the Golden Flashes, who extended their MAC record for consecutive titles in any sport with an 18-stroke victory at Stone Oak Country Club in Holland, Ohio.
“Winning is difficult in our sport. The fact that they have won 23 in a row is unbelievable,” said first-year KSU head coach Casey VanDamme. “There are so many opportunities for two players to not be playing well or to be sick or have some kind of issue. It’s very special. We definitely could have cleaned some stuff up and played better, but when it mattered there were people that stepped up and did some great things for us. We closed out each round pretty strong.”
The Flashes were the only team to crack 300 in Sunday’s final round, shooting 11-over-par 299 in windy conditions to finish at 25-over for the event. Northern Illinois wound up second, led by medalist Jasmine Ly (1-under).
Salort birdied two of the last three holes to close with a 2-over 74, and finished second individually at 3-over. Price, an All-American last season who has won two tournaments in 2021-22, trailed Ly by just one stroke heading into Sunday’s third and final round but shot 77 and slipped to third overall at 4-over.
“Emily played great, just had a couple bad breaks,” said VanDamme. “Chloe's kind of our heart and soul. She's been here forever and has really improved her game. She had some bad stretches this weekend, but you know she’s going to come back from them and that’s what she did again today.”
Gu was a consistent contributor for the Flashes, shooting 76 in the first two rounds before closing with a 75 to finish in a tie for fifth at plus-11.
“A freshman stepping up,” said VanDamme of Gu. “She closed the first two days with a birdie at 18, then today she was minus 3 on the last seven holes. She really did a great job. She wasn’t putting her best, but really hit the ball well and hung in there.”
Hoogeboom (junior) matched Salort’s 74 on Sunday to finish eighth at 12-over despite opening with an 81.
“She just hung in there,” said VanDamme. “It wasn’t going well the first day, but she hung in and finished strong (Saturday) then had a great round today.”
Junior Noramol Nuchsila contributed a 76 on Sunday for the Flashes, who earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals set for May 9-11.
2022 MAC Championships
(At Stone Oak Country Club in Holland, Ohio. Par 72)
Final team scores: 1. Kent State +25, 2. Northern Illinois +43, 3. Akron +62, 4. Bowling Green +74, 5. Ball State +80, 6. Toledo +85, 7. Eastern Michigan +90, 8. Central Michigan +98, 9. Western Michigan +113, 10. Ohio +132.
Kent State: 3. Chloe Salort 73-72-74 +3, 3. Emily Price 70-73-77 +4,T5. Jennifer Gu 76-76-75 +11, 8. Mayka Hoogeboom 81-73-74 +12, T20. Noramol Nuchsila 77-82-76 +19.
This article originally appeared on Record-Courier: Kent State earned its 23rd straight MAC women's golf title
