OMAHA, Neb. – The duo of senior Murphy Sears and sophomore Kendra Placke is back at it again. Both Bulldogs earned medals as the Concordia University women’s golf team opened the 2019-20 season at the Matthew Goette Classic on Wednesday (Sept. 4). As a team, the Bulldogs placed fourth out of 11 squads present at Tiburon Golf Club in Omaha, Neb. Sixty-eight individuals competed in the tournament.
With head coach Brett Muller simultaneously leading the men’s team at the Blue River Classic, graduate assistant coach Tanner Randall guided the Concordia women through Wednesday’s round. They shot a team score of 356, which came in under the team’s season average from the 2018-19 campaign.
Both returning All-GPAC performers, Sears and Placke are big reasons for optimism this fall and coming spring. In the first round of this season, Sears tied for second place with a seven-over-par 79 while Placke placed fourth with a nine-over-par 81. The Bulldogs were the only team to put two golfers in the top five. The rest of Concordia’s top five included junior Andrea Peterson (95; T-33rd), sophomore Britney Jepsen (97; T-42nd) and senior Paighton Barbre (101; T-49th).
Three other Bulldogs competed on Wednesday: freshmen Lauren Havlat (101; T-49th), Logan Eschliman (105; 57th) and Ashley Gerczynski (117; 66th).
The fall season will pick back up on Monday (Sept. 9) with the Midland Invite at Fremont Golf Club in Fremont, Neb. At the same event last year, Placke carded an 82 and Sears shot an 83.