VERMILLION, S.D. – Concordia University Women’s Golf will have work to do in the spring if it is to place inside the top three of the GPAC for a third year in a row. With two rounds of conference championship play in the books, the Bulldogs reside in seventh place in the GPAC standings. Thirty-six holes of conference action took place Monday and Tuesday (Oct. 4-5) at The Bluffs Golf Course in Vermillion, S.D. Kendra Placke carded a season best 74 on Tuesday.
Head Coach Brett Muller’s squad turned in a two-day total of 351-353–704. The performance was exactly in line with the team’s season scoring average of 352.0.
“We knew going in that Morningside was the frontrunner in the conference and teams two through eight or nine were all pretty close,” Muller said. “They’re teams that we’ve been competitive with this fall. It really shows the depth of the conference. We were optimistic going into the day, but we were plagued by some big numbers and that hurt our team score.”
Placke will enter the spring of 2022 with a chance to compete for an individual GPAC title. A top 10 conference place finisher in each of the previous three seasons, Placke carded a score of 80-74–154 over the past two days. Placke’s 74 was second best among all 60 players in round two and moved her from sixth to fifth place on the overall individual leaderboard. She is four strokes behind GPAC leader Sofia Castelan of Morningside.
Four of the five Bulldogs on this fall’s GPAC roster possessed previous experience at the conference tournament. Placke (seventh in 2020-21), Logan Eschliman (31st) and Lauren Havlat (T-36th) are each hoping to improve from their GPAC finishes from last season. Next in line after Placke, Havlat is situated one stroke out of the top 20. She shot a consistent two-round total of 86-87–173 this week. Each of the Bulldog scores are listed below.
Concordia golfers at 2021-22 GPAC Championships:
· Kendra Placke – 80-74–154 (5th)
· Lauren Havlat – 86-87–173 (T-21st)
· Logan Eschliman – 93-90–183 (41st)
· Mya Nurse – 92-102–194 (48th)
· Emily Jensen – 97-102–199 (51st)
Concordia finished third at the 2020-21 GPAC Championships while shooting 368-359-327-339–1,393. Placke was joined with All-GPAC honors by teammates Mia Martin and Andrea Peterson. Over the previous three seasons, Placke has turned in respective GPAC place finishes of fifth, sixth and seventh. In the spring, Placke will vie to become the first Bulldog to win the GPAC individual title since Amy Ahlers accomplished that feat in 2016-17. Said Muller, “She’s right in the hunt. The big difference for Kendra is she’s made a ton of birdies the last two days. She made five in round one and four in round two.”
The third and fourth rounds of the 2021-22 GPAC Women’s Golf Championships will be held at Norfolk Country Club in Norfolk, Neb., April 25-26, 2022. The Bulldogs will wrap up their fall schedule this Friday and Saturday at the Nebraska Intercollegiate. The event will feature many Nebraska teams and will also take place at Norfolk Country Club.