Midway (Ky) claims KIAC Women's Golf Tournament title with strong final round
Midway (Ky) claims KIAC Women's Golf Tournament title with strong final round
FINAL RESULTS: TEAM* / INDIVIDUAL
GEORGETOWN, Ky. -- Midway (Ky.) University won the KIAC Women's Golf Tournament championship with a very strong performance in Saturday's final round at Cherry Blossom Golf Club.
The Eagles shot 320 over the final 18 holes to erase a six-shot deficit after Friday's first round. With the victory, Midway qualifies for the NAIA Women's Golf National Championship May 17-20 at Savannah Quarters Country Club in Pooler, Ga.
Indiana University East freshman Breanna Nowak shot a 75 in Saturday's final round to win the KIAC individual championship. As the conference medalist, Nowak is an individual qualifier for the NAIA national tournament.
Midway's Kathryn Lawler finished in second place and one shot behind Nowak. Lawler shot the round of the tournament on Saturday, a 74 that led the Eagles to victory. With that performance, Lawler claimed KIAC Player of the Year honors with the lowest combined scores from the KIAC Fall Preview and this weekend's KIAC Tournament.
Other individual awards were Nowak picking up KIAC Medalist of the Year and KIAC Newcomer of the Year honors as a freshman. KIAC Comeback Player of the Year went to Midway's Jasmine Valentine.
KIAC Coach of the Year honors went to Midway's Otis Smith, who will be taking his team to the NAIA national championship next month. The Eagles shot 335 on Friday to trail first-round leader Brescia (Ky.) University by six strokes, but rallied for the win.
Brescia shot 338 on Saturday and finished in second place, 12 shots behind Midway. Brescia shot 329 in the first round to lead by six strokes over Midway.
Courtney Lucas led Brescia in a tie for third place with rounds of 77 and 86. She was the 18-hole leader of the tournament by one shot over Asbury (Ky.) University's Julie Spaulding (78-85), who finished in a tie for third.
Point Park (Pa.) University shot rounds of 380 and 385 to claim third place.
Indiana East was shot 387-385 for seven shots back of Point Park and finished fourth.
Indiana University Kokomo claimed fifth place after knocking off 18 shots from the first round to the second round and shooting 396-378.
Asbury (Ky.) University was in third place after the first round but ended up in last place. The Eagles started the tournament with four players but had just three players post scores in the final round for an incomplete team scorecard.
Midway's win was after the Eagles had four of their five players cut strokes from the first round to the second round. Midway had all five of its players finish in the top 11 individual placements.
After Lawler in second, Chelsea Schack (82-81) was tied for third, Rylee Beard (82-85) was tied for seventh, and Amanda Cox (94-80) and Kelsey Whitehouse (89-85) were tied for 11th.
The KIAC Women's Golf All-Conference team was awarded with the top seven players with the lowest combined score from the fall preview and the spring championship making the team.
The KIAC Women's Golf Champions of Character Team was awarded with one player from each team selected as the representative from their team who best exemplifies the five core character values of the NAIA's Champions of Character initiative of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship.
2016 KIAC WOMEN'S GOLF INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
KIAC Coach of the Year: Otis Smith (Midway)
KIAC Player of the Year: Kathryn Lawler (Midway)
KIAC Medalist of the Year: Breanna Nowak (IU East)
KIAC Newcomer of the Year: Breanna Nowak (IU East)
KIAC Comeback Player of the Year: Jasmine Valentine (Midway)
2016 KIAC WOMEN'S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM
| Kathryn Lawler | Midway (Ky.) |
| Breanna Nowak | IU East |
| Courtney Lucas | Midway (Ky.) |
| Chelsea Schack | Midway (Ky.) |
| Nicole Burks | Brescia (Ky.) |
| Julie Spaulding | Asbury (Ky.) |
| Lela Crawford | IU Kokomo |
2016 KIAC WOMEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONS OF CHARACATER TEAM
| Julie Spaulding | Asbury (Ky.) |
| Julie Whitfill | Brescia (Ky.) |
| Breanna Nowak | IU East |
| Bailey Troutman | IU Kokomo |
| Amanda Cox | Midway (Ky.) |
| Emily Madden | Point Park |
*Golfstat results published with Asbury listed in third place. Official results are Asbury sixth place due to incomplete final round with three posted scores.