DC Women’s Golf Concludes Season at HCAC Championships

FRANKLIN, Ind. – The Defiance College women's golf squad wrapped up its 2012 season on Sunday with a record-breaking showing at the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships in Franklin, Indiana. DC finished in seventh but posted its best score at the event since the program was reinstated in 2006.

The Yellow Jackets shot a 777 to cut six strokes off their 2011 total and improve their team score at the event for the third-straight year. The 2012 final was also within 30 strokes of a top-three finish for Defiance, as the program continued to narrow the gap on the top of the league after ending 81 strokes off the pace of the top three one year ago.

The team improvement was fueled by record-setting efforts from Kelly Beard and Phoenix Golnick, as the duo tied for 17th with final scores of 188. Those numbers marked the first time that a Yellow Jacket had ended inside the top-20 at the HCAC Championship since the start of the 2006 campaign and the lowest individual score by a DC player since Sarah Westfall shot a 187 in 2010. Beard's single-round tally of 90 on Saturday was also the best 18-hole total for a Defiance player at the event since the program was restarted.

Beard and Golnick were followed in the standings by Westfall, who shot a 199 to end in 29th and Tara Miller in 33rd. Kayla Uscilowski rounded out the scorecard for Defiance in 37th position.

Franklin claimed the team title with a 696, with Hanover taking second with a 714. Rose-Hulman rounded out the top three by shooting a 747, and was followed by Transylvania (754), Manchester (767), Mount St. Joseph (770) and Defiance (777).

Hanover took the individual championship with a 167 from Brooke McKay.

The tournament marked the end of the collegiate careers for Tara Miller, Kelly Beard and Phoenix Golnick for the Yellow Jackets. Miller also earned a special honor from the league, being named to the HCAC All-Sportsmanship Team.