5 in a row! Midway (Ky.) wins another RSC Women's Golf Championship
5 in a row! Midway (Ky.) wins another RSC Women's Golf Championship
FINAL LEADERBOARD
FLORENCE, Ind. -- Midway (Ky.) University made it a wire-to-wire win and claimed its fifth consecutive River States Conference Women's Golf Championship on Tuesday from Belterra Golf Club. The Eagles shot 322 in the final round to notch an eight-shot victory over runner-up Indiana University East.
Midway led after each of the first two rounds held on Monday. The Eagles led by 14 strokes through 36 holes and had enough to hold off IU East, which shot its best round of 316 over the final 18 holes.
Midway advances to the NAIA Women's Golf National Championship, which will be held May 25-28 at Rose Creek Golf Course in Oklahoma City, Okla. The Eagles qualified with the RSC's automatic bid.
Also going to NAIA nationals is RSC medalist Jo Wisecup, a junior from IU East. Wisecup earned her national qualification as the individual conference champ outside of the team qualifier Midway. She was tied for the 36-hole lead and then went out and shot another 1-over 73 -- just as she did in round two -- to win the title by five shots. Wisecup was 10-over through 54 holes after rounds of 80-73-73.
Asbury (Ky.) University's Hannah McCrabb, who shared the two-round lead, finished runner up after a 78 on Tuesday. She shot rounds of 78-75-78 as the only player in the field with three rounds in the 70s.
Midway's victory had the Eagles put three players in the top 10 finishers this week and four players combined on the All-RSC First & Second Teams. Emilie Hill led the Eagles with a third-place finish and a spot on the first team. She shot 76-83-76 the past two days. Catherine Kelly (76-80-82) placed fifth, and Jenna Lewis (79-80-81) placed seventh and were on the All-RSC Second Team along with 15th-place finisher Payton Schechter.
Asbury's Faith Wiley placed fourth with rounds of 80-75-82. Point Park (Pa.) University's Joey Walz placed sixth with scores of 79-80-80. Wiley and Walz rounded on the five-player All-RSC First Team.
The RSC individual awards had Jo Wisecup as the RSC Golfer of the Year and RSC Medalist. Catherine Kelly was named RSC Newcomer of the Year. Asbury head coach Matthew McCurry was voted RSC Coach of the Year after leading the Eagles to third place as a team.
Oakland City (Ind.) University placed fourth and had Hallie Hinton and Haylee Exline come in 10th and 11th individually. Indiana University Kokomo took fourth place and had Sarah Williams place ninth overall. The rest of the eight teams had Brescia (Ky.) University in sixth, Point Park in seventh and University of Rio Grande (Ohio) in eighth.
Also named was the RSC Women's Golf Champions of Character Team, which had one player designated to represent each school who best displays the NAIA's five character values of respect, responsibility, integrity, servant leadership and sportsmanship. The All-RSC Teams were selected using a combined score from the two rounds in the fall preview and the three rounds at this week's championship.
Click the link above for the full and complete final leaderboard and championship stats via Golfstat.
2021 RIVER STATES CONFERENCE WOMEN'S GOLF TEAMS & AWARDS
RSC Golfer of the Year -- Jo Wisecup, Jr., IU East
RSC Medalist -- Jo Wisecup, Jr., IU East
RSC Newcomer of the Year -- Catherine Kelly, So., Midway (Ky.)
RSC Coach of the Year -- Matthew McCurry, Asbury (Ky.)
ALL-RSC WOMEN'S GOLF FIRST TEAM
Jo Wisecup – IU East
Hannah McCrabb – Asbury (Ky.)
Faith Wiley – Asbury (Ky.)
Emilie Hill – Midway (Ky.)
Joe Walz – Point Park (Pa.)
ALL-RSC WOMEN'S GOLF SECOND TEAM
Catie Kelly – Midway (Ky.)
Jenna Lewis – Midway (Ky.)
Hallie Hinton – Oakland City (Ind.)
Annie Gillock – IU East
Haylle Exline – Oakland City (Ind.)*
Meredith Mayes – Brescia (Ky.)*
Payton Schechter – Midway (Ky.)*
*Three-way tie for final spot
RSC WOMEN'S GOLF CHAMPIONS OF CHARACTER TEAM
Asbury – Hannah McCrabb
Brescia – Brooklyn Spicer
IU East – Annie Gillock
IU Kokomo – Brandi Jones
Midway – Hannah Ritchie
Oakland City – Gillian Blessinger
Ohio Christian – Sarah Helsel
Point Park – Olivia Stawovy
Rio Grande – Madison Duskey