Lions women golfers sit near top as first round of conference tourney ends
Apr. 24—Missouri Southern's women's golf team sat near the top of the leaderboard at the MIAA Women's Conference Tournament at Eagle Creek Country Club in Joplin on Monday.
Southern's women's team shot a 34 over par, good enough for third place after the first round of the three-round tournament.
Southern finished 12 shots behind first-place Rogers State, of Claremore, and eight shots behind second-place University of Central Missouri. Southern was one shot ahead of fourth-place Northeastern State University from Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
Central Oklahoma and the University of Nebraska-Kearney were ranked fifth and sixth, Missouri Western and Lincoln were tied for seventh, and Fort Hays State, Northwest Missouri State and Newman rounded out the field.
"We feel good about where we're at, and we, honestly, left some shots out there today," coach Mike Wheeler said. "We could have played better, but it's a great start for us to get to play with UCM and Rogers State tomorrow. It could have the effect of upping our game. It's a nice late start; it'll be warmer then. We couldn't ask for a better start to the tournament."
Wheeler said the Lions have been ranked in the middle of the pack in the MIAA in the 2023 season, but he considered that an accomplishment for a program that's only 5 years old and lost most of one season to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We finished ninth out of 18 teams at the tournament here at Eagle Creek last week," Wheeler said about last weekend's inaugural Dr. Virginia Laas Invitational, which was held at Eagle Creek. "The golf course played tough for everybody. Scores were higher than anticipated but we're looking for a little better effort this time around.
"The other thing the Virginia Lass Invitational provided was an excellent preview of this course. All the teams that are here today were here for that tournament. So they could play the course and see it before conference."
MSSU'a Mia Scrimgeour, a sophomore from Wellington, New Zealand, finished the first round at the top of Southern's scoreboard and tied for fourth with Northeastern State's Nina Lee with a score of 75, or three over par.
Sophomore Aida Nunez, from Spain, finished the first round with a nine over par 81 and is tied for 17th with three other golfers.
"Mia played real solid today," Wheeler said. "Aida had a really good round going, but she hit a five-hole bad patch on the back and had a big number. She's not very happy about it, so I suspect she'll come back and play well tomorrow."
Sophomore Lily Allman, from Anderson, and junior Iratxe Fernandez-Cano Aldasoro, from Spain, each scored an 11 over par 83 and sat at No. 23 with four other golfers, while senior Kylie Carnes, from Carl Junction, scored a 12 over par 84 and sits with five other players at 29th.
The tournament continues with the second round Tuesday and third round Wednesday.
Monday's results determine the pairings for the second round, which means Southern golfers will start playing later and will be paired with the top golfers in the tournament.
"It is warmer. When you have to go out early and it's cool, you've got more clothes on, which can be troublesome for some," Wheeler said. "The wind may be a little stronger by 11 o'clock, but just the fact that you're going off last is a boost. To say we played well yesterday, we put ourselves in a position to do this, let's go do it again today. Also, if you're playing with the leaders, your goal is to beat the two people you're playing with that day."
People can follow the scoring in the tournament live at https://results.golfstat.com/public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=teamPlayer&tid= 27335.
