EUREKA, Mo. – Paced by junior Jessica Rathbone's second-round 2-over-par 74 and 3-over 75s from Kerington Lamb and freshman Kennedy Gooding, the Anderson women's golf team is in fifth place following the second day of the 2023 NCAA Division II Women's Golf National Championships.
The University of Missouri – St. Louis is hosting the championships on a par-72, 6,187-yard Fox Run Golf Club layout.
"We played really well today until right there at the end," said Anderson Head Coach Denton Moore. "We just gave away some easy shots on the last three holes. I'm still pleased with the effort. You just always want to have as big of a cushion as you can possibly have heading into the last day. KK, Zoey, and Jess were again very steady today. KG had a huge bounce-back round for us today. She played fantastic on the back nine. K Mac finished strong today and was there if anyone slipped. Unfortunately, we just didn't make many birdies today. Hopefully we can pile them up tomorrow and reach the Elite 8 and match play. We are still in solid position for that. That's all that matters. As (Head Football) Coach (Bobby) Lamb texts me every day - survive and advance!"
With only 10 shots separating third place from eighth place and just five strokes between the fourth slot and eighth place, second-ranked Dallas Baptist overcame an 11-stroke deficit following Tuesday's first round and now leads the 18-team field by three shots over second-place Findlay. Nova Southeastern slipped into third place and trails the Oilers by three strokes. Top-ranked Lynn holds the fourth slot, with the Trojans in fifth place – just one shot behind the Knights - and one stroke in front of sixth-place Indianapolis. West Texas A&M is in seventh place, with Cal State San Marcos making one of the two largest jumps of the day – from 13th place into the eighth slot. Cal State East Bay slid from a share of fifth place into ninth, with Tampa in the 10th spot.
Henderson State also leapt five spots – into 11th place – while Nebraska-Kearney and Missouri-St. Louis are 12th and 13th, respectively. Limestone fell four spots into a tie for 14th place, alongside Grand Valley State, with Augustana, Tiffin and Wayne State finishing out the field.
Nova Southeastern's Olivia Gronborg (68-69-137) maintained her grip on the top spot in the chase for individual medalist honors and leads Dallas Baptist's Olivia Mitchell (72-67-139) by a pair of shots heading into Thursday's final round. UMSL's Wilma Zanderau (74-67-141) rocketed 20 spots up the leaderboard and occupies the third slot. West Texas A&M's Gam Songprasert (72-71-143) and Findlay's Jill Schmitmeyer (70-73-143) are tied for fourth place.
Rathbone eased four spots up the leaderboard and is in an 11-way logjam for 12th place, alongside Lamb, while sophomore Zoey Iglesias shares 23rd place. Sophomore Kennedy McGaha is tied for 50th place, with freshman Kennedy Gooding carding a team-high three birdies and vaulting up 19 spots into a tie for 59th place.
"It's been huge having (Director of Golf) Danny (Neal) back out there as well," added Moore. "Regionals were tough with just one coach on both the men and women's team. Two coaches are always better than one. I can't stress enough how much comfortable we all are with the big dog back out there with us. We have a lot of work to do tomorrow. But if we play solid Trojan golf we will make match play. It's just another step toward the ultimate goal! I can't wait to get back out there with the girls. Go Trojans!"
The Championships consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently. Eighteen (18) teams and eight (8) individuals are competing for team and individual championships over 54 holes and championship head-to-head medal play format.
Following 54 holes of stroke play, an individual champion will be declared along with finishers 2-10 on Thursday.
The top eight teams after 54 holes of play will then be placed into a bracket and seeded based on 54-hole scores, with the team quarterfinal and semifinal rounds on Friday and the finals occurring on Saturday.
Thursday's third and final round is slated to get underway at 9 a.m. (eastern) with the Trojans teeing off at 12:50 p.m.
5 Anderson 292 300 592
T12 Jessica Rathbone 73 74 147
T12 Kerington Lamb 72 75 147
T23 Zoey Iglesias 72 76 148
T50 Kennedy McGaha 75 78 153
T59 Kennedy Gooding 79 75 154
2 Team Scores To Par
1 Dallas Baptist 295 285 580 +4
2 Findlay 292 291 583 +7
3 Nova Southeastern 284 302 586 +10
4 Lynn 297 294 591 +15
5 Anderson 292 300 592 +16
6 UIndy 299 294 593 +17
7 West Texas A&M 300 294 594 +18
8 Cal State San Marcos 305 291 596 +20
9 Cal State East Bay 297 305 602 +26
10 Tampa 301 302 603 +27
11 Henderson State 308 296 604 +28
12 Nebraska – Kearney 303 306 609 +33
13 Missouri - St. Louis 306 305 611 +35
T14 Limestone 302 312 614 +38
T14 Grand Valley State 307 307 614 +38
16 Augustana 309 306 615 +39
17 Tiffin 303 321 624 +48
18 Wayne State 314 318 632 +56
NOTABLES
• Lamb's first-round 72 matched her fifth-lowest round out of 29 rounds this year.
• Iglesias' opening-round 72 matched her fourth-lowest round out of 32 rounds this year.
• Fourteen of the 18 teams competing in Eureka are ranked in Golfstat's Top-30
• Twenty-two of the top-30 golfers in the nation, including six of the top-10, are in Eureka, including Lynn's Maria Hoyos (No. 1) and Sara Ericsson (No. 2), along with Nova Southeastern's Olivia Gronborg (No. 4) and Ellen Andersson (No. 10). Dallas Baptist's Olivia Mitchell (No. 7), Julia Garcia (No. 12) and Jordan Karrh (No. 13) will also be competing, alongside Eckerd's Amelie Alcantara (No. 9) and UMSL's Tove Brunell (No. 11).
• AU is making its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and second straight appearance as a team on the national stage.
• Victoria Hall competed as an individual at the 2019 National Championships.
• Emma Charles competed as an individual at the 2021 National Championships.
• Findlay is the seeking its second straight national title.
• Dallas Baptist won the 2021 championship.
• Lynn won back-to-back championships (2013 & 2014).
• Indianapolis is seeking its third title in eight years.
