Last weekend, the women’s golf team placed third at the NWC championships to conclude their 2018 spring season. Whitworth finished behind first place Whitman College and second place George Fox.
The NWC Championship counted for 50 percent of the overall season scores. The Fall Classic and Spring Classic each count for 25 percent.
“We all were happy with how we did as a team, of course we always want to do better, but we have come a long ways since the beginning of Fall 2017,” Kaite Ochoa, ’18, said.
Jaymie Pentony, ‘20, was the top finisher for the Pirates. She tied with two other individual finishers for 10th with a total score of 165 (+21), 18 strokes behind the leaders, Kristin Elich from George Fox and Shiyang Fan from Whitman. Fan and Elich both scored 74-73—147, but Fan took first in a playoff tie-breaker.
“I did really well the first day. I shot a 77, which put me in first place. I was pretty happy with that. I didn’t do quite as well the second day, I shot an 88, but overall I was satisfied with my performance and it allowed me to place,” Pentony said.
Maggie Peters, ’20, tied for 13th (81-85—166), Cheyenne Marchand, ’20, ended in a three way tie for 16th (85-83—168), Allie Slingsby, ’21, ended in 22nd (90-82—172) and Katie Ochoa, ’18, ended in 25th (89-97—176) out of the 43 competitors.
“We have improved a lot over the years, considering this team is pretty young minus myself, they have done great in stepping up to be on the starting team and I can’t wait to see what else they got in their next season,” Ochoa said.
Peters and Pentony were both given second Team All-Conference honors for their season performance.
“I applaud everyone of the girls on our team, I know we can always look back and say we could have done more, but these girls worked day in and day out for our tournaments and it showed,” Ochoa said.
Overall, the Pirates finished third in the conference standings for the 2018 season. Whitman and George Fox tied for first overall, but Whitman will go to the NCAA DIII Tournament based on tie-breakers.
“It was just really fun. I’m sad to see it end. We spend our entire school year golfing, which takes a lot since it’s a dual season sport. We don’t really have an off-season like other sports. We are all pretty excited about what we can do in the Fall next year,” Pentony said.
