No. 9 Athenas ready to tee off at NCAA Championship
HOUSTON, Texas – The Claremont-Mudd-Scripps women's golf team arrived in Houston, Texas on Saturday evening to prepare for the NCAA Championship at Bay Oaks Country Club. The No. 9 Athenas will be joining 21 other teams and six individuals in the 54-hole competition from May 9-12. The field will get cut to the top 15 teams to compete the final day.
The tournament course is set at par 72 and features 5869 yards of play. It features four par-5 holes with the longest coming from the 16th hole at 470 yards.
The Athenas earned automatic qualification after taking first in the SCIAC Championship and will be sending five representatives to the tournament. Junior Margaret Loncki (CMC) will serve as the team's no. 1 on the first day of the tournament. The junior was named All-SCIAC First Team this season after finishing tied for seventh at the SCIAC Championship. A constant presence on the top of the leaderboard, her biggest success came at the SCIAC #1, which she won with scores of 78 and 75.
Sophomore Kelly Ransom (CMC) has shown up on the big stage and demonstrated a knack of sticking with the best on challenging courses. Starting at the No. 2 spot, Ransom finished the SCIAC Championship at 236 and earlier this season won the Jekyll Island Classic at 230. The sophomore posted a .273 birdie conversion rate on Jekyll Island. Freshman Emma Kang (CMC) won the conference individual title after posting a 75, 74, and 72 over the three days and is hoping to find similar success at the Nationals. Kang was at her sharpest at the SCIAC Championship, seeing 81.5% of her holes reach green in regulation.
At the No. 4 junior Cara Brinster (CMC) will be counted to maintain the Athenas low stroke count. Brinster had her best showing at the SCIAC #2, in which she finished tied for 12th at 161. The junior has consistently scored within her season average of 83.90. Freshman Taylor Hughes (CMC) became an emergent star at the SCIAC Championship, putting four birdies and going 73 on the first day before finishing fourth overall. After a phenomenal performance in her first appearance on the main lineup, the Athenas are giving her a shot to make name for herself in her second appearance.
By Young Kim
Sports Information Assistant
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