Jackets finish sixth at HCAC Championships, Rose-Hulman wins fourth straight title
OTTAWA, Ohio – The 2023 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference Women's Golf Championship wrapped up its 54-hole competition on Sunday at Moose Landing Country Club that saw Rose-Hulman capture a fourth-straight team conference championship.
The Fighting Engineers started the final day with a 24-stroke lead and finished as the only one of 10 teams to finish less than 100 strokes over par. Rose-Hulman's three-day totals were 334, 308 and 320 for a 962 finish. The Fighting Engineers earn the HCAC's automatic bid to the national tournament. Finishing in second place was Transylvania at 999 total strokes for the tournament.
Defiance finished sixth place and just 18 shots off fifth place. For the second day in a row, the Yellow Jackets cracked the top five team scores in team history with a 355 to match Saturday's total. For the tournament, DC finished with 1,018 shots and 219 strokes over par.
Despite little drama in the team championship, the individual conference title was settled on the 54th hole of the tournament. Transylvania's June Lee overcame a six stroke deficit to claim the individual title. While playing in the final grouping with two-day leader Alyssa Haverstraw from Mount St. Joseph, the duo was tied following each the 16th and 17th holes. After Haverstraw's third shot landed on the back fringe of the green, Lee landed her attempt inside 10 feet from the pin and was able to two-putt to the title.
All four Yellow Jackets had a solid finish to the tournament led by sophomore Isabelle Vance (Continental, Ohio/Miller City) with a career-best 86 and DC's lowest round of the tournament. An 11th-hole birdie helped fuel her to a 78 through 17 holes despite carding an eight to finish the afternoon. Vance's 268 over the three days was second-lowest on the team.
Defiance's best tournament score came from Winter Boroff (Convoy, Ohio/Lincolnview), who finished tied for 16th with a 261 three-round total and ended on a final round of 90. Boroff cut 29 strokes off her last HCAC Championship performance that resulted in a 30th-place finish in October 2021.
Cassady Van Dyke (Marysville, Ohio/Marysville) fired an 88 to close up a 24th-place finish with a 272 54-hole total. Mari Najar (Adrian, Mich./Madison) finished her career with a round of 91, her best of the weekend, and a 282 total for 30th.
The conference championship marks the end of the 2022-23 campaign for the women's golf program. After numerous new additions to the program's best individual and team 18-hole scores, all four golfers that competed at the HCAC Championship closed the campaign with 18-hole averages in the top 10 of program history, led by Van Dyke's 91.3 and Boroff's 92.6.
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