EUREKA, Mo. – Anderson's bid for its second straight appearance in the national quarterfinals fell just short, as the fifth-ranked Trojans finished in 10th place, Thursday afternoon at the 2023 NCAA Division II Women's Golf National Championships.
The University of Missouri – St. Louis is hosting the championships at the par-72, 6,187-yard Fox Run Golf Club.
"Really hard to put into words how heartbroken I am for our girls today," said Anderson Head Coach Denton Moore. "They have been so special all year. It's been the best year in program history. Unfortunately, today was just one of those days that you almost never see with this crew. Everything that could go wrong - went wrong. We never got any positive momentum going all day, and the mistakes just seem to snowball on us. The hard part right now is trying to get these young ladies to understand how special they were this season. Right now, all they feel is disappointment and heartbreak. I'm feeling it for them. This team was good enough to contend for it all. We just unfortunately had our worst round of the year at the worst time."
With six of the top eight squads from Wednesday's second round remaining the same, nationally second-ranked Dallas Baptist claimed the No. 1 seed for match play by just three shots over West Texas A&M, which jumped five spots into second place on Thursday. Findlay and Indianapolis shared third place, with UIndy claiming the No. 3 seed and the Oilers taking the No. 4 seed. Nationally top-ranked Lynn held the fifth slot, while Nova Southeastern fell three spots into sixth place. Henderson State, which jumped five spots into 11th place following Wednesday's second round, continued its climb up the leaderboard – moving up four more on Thursday to claim the seventh slot. Cal State East Bay and Cal State San Marcos swapped their standings, with East Bay climbing to take the eighth slot and San Marcos slipping out of quarterfinal consideration by finishing ninth.
AU was two shots further back in 10th place, with Grand Valley State taking home 11th place. Tampa and Nebraska-Kearney finished 12th and 13th, respectively, while Limestone remained in the 14th spot. Missouri-St. Louis, Augustana, Tiffin and Wayne State rounded out the 18-team field.
Nova Southeastern's Olivia Gronborg (68-69-73-210) led wire-to-wire and claimed individual medalist honors by four strokes over Findlay's Gabby Woods (70-74-70-214) and Dallas Baptist's Olivia Mitchell (72-67-75-214). Grand Valley State's Paula Badino (77-70-68-215) moved up eight spots and shared fourth place with UMSL's Wilma Zanderau (74-67-74-215), who shot 19 spots up the leaderboard over the final two rounds.
AU junior Jessica Rathbone finished alone in 32nd place, while sophomore Zoey Iglesias was just behind in a tie for the 33rd spot. Grad student Kerington Lamb claimed a share of 35th place, with freshman Kennedy Gooding moving up 12 spots and finishing in a tie for 47th. Sophomore Kennedy McGaha wrapped up the tourney with a share of 77th place.
"So difficult to watch Emma Charles and Kerington Lamb play their last rounds of golf here," added Moore. "They have both been so huge for our golf program. I am going to miss them both something awful. The good news is, the rest of this crew will be back next year. We have an awesome nucleus coming back, and a heck of an incoming freshman. It's back-to-back years in the national championship, and I am so proud of this team. Anderson University Golf is not going anywhere. We will come back better and stronger from this next year. I love these girls, they are my family, and I can't wait for the summer to zoom by and get back to work with them next year! Go Trojans!"
The top eight teams based on 54-hole scores were placed into a bracket and seeded, with the team quarterfinal and semifinal rounds on Friday and the finals occurring on Saturday.
Quarterfinal Pairings:
#1 Dallas Baptist vs. #8 Cal State East Bay
#2 West Texas A&M vs. #7 Henderson State
#3 UIndy vs. #6 Nova Southeastern
#4 Findlay vs. #5 Lynn
The teams will compete in head-to-head medal play (stroke play over 18 holes and low score wins).
Friday's quarterfinal medal match play is slated to get underway at 9 a.m. (eastern).
10 Anderson 292 300 308 900
32 Jessica Rathbone 73 74 77 224
T33 Zoey Iglesias 72 76 77 225
T35 Kerington Lamb 72 75 79 226
T47 Kennedy Gooding 79 75 75 229
T77 Kennedy McGaha 75 78 82 235
Team Scores To Par
1 Dallas Baptist 295 285 294 874 +10
2 West Texas A&M 300 294 283 877 +13
T3 UIndy 299 294 287 880 +16
T3 Findlay 292 291 297 880 +16
5 Lynn 297 294 290 881 +17
6 Nova Southeastern 284 302 296 882 +18
7 Henderson State 308 296 289 893 +29
8 Cal State East Bay 297 305 293 895 +31
9 Cal State San Marcos 305 291 302 898 +34
10 Anderson 292 300 308 900 +36
11 Grand Valley State 307 307 292 906 +42
12 Tampa 301 302 306 909 +45
13 Nebraska–Kearney 303 306 308 917 +53
14 Limestone 302 312 306 920 +56
15 Missouri - St. Louis 306 305 313 924 +60
16 Augustana 309 306 315 930 +66
17 Tiffin 303 321 307 931 +67
18 Wayne State 314 318 312 944 +80
COMPLETE RESULTS
NOTABLES
• The medal match portion will be scored by the cumulative number of strokes won by rather than the number of holes won. For example, a player "up 3" means that the golfer is up three strokes, not three holes. The player up by the most strokes after 18 holes wins the match and earns a point for their team. All five golfers on the team will compete for points, meaning the team with at least three points will advance to the semifinal round.
• During quarterfinal and semifinals: If a team match is tied after all five individual matches, the total strokes of the five players from each team will be calculated with the winning team having the fewest strokes. If still tied, the tied match(es) will play a sudden-victory playoff hole to determine the advancing team. If still tied after sudden-victory, the match(es) will continue play until a winner is determined.
• Two of the eight teams in the quarterfinals are from the South Region.
• Fourteen of the 18 teams competing in Eureka were ranked in Golfstat's Top-30.
• Twenty-two of the top-30 golfers in the nation, including six of the top-10, were in Eureka.
• AU made its fourth consecutive appearance in the NCAA Tournament and its second straight appearance in the National Championships.
• Victoria Hall competed as an individual at the 2019 National Championships.
• Emma Charles competed as an individual at the 2021 National Championships.
• Findlay is 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.
