By Robert McKinney, Assistant Athletics Director, Communications
SALEM, Ore. -- Three members of the Willamette University women's golf team completed the second round of the 2022 Northwest Conference Tourmament at Creekside Golf Club on Sunday, April 24. Competing for the Bearcats were Meghan Hook (Sr., Sunnyvale, CA/Homestead HS), Alexis Schwartz (Grad., Ontario, OR/Ontario HS), and Kiki Fierstos (Sr., Redmond, OR/Redmond HS). All three golfers lowered their scores in the second round.
Hook shot a 106 in the first round on Saturday before carding a score of 100 on Sunday to finish at 206 overall. Schwartz registered a score of 111 in the first round and then recorded a 106 in the second round for a total of 217. Fierstos shot 125 on Saturday and improved by 12 strokes to 113 on Sunday, as she concluded the tournament at 238.
George Fox University won its ninth consecutive Northwest Conference championship, as the Bruins completed a sweep of the three events used to determine the title by winning the NWC Tournament with a closing round of 303 and a 36-hole score of 601. The Bruins, who won the NWC Fall Classic and the NWC Spring Classic, took first place in the NWC Tournament by 68 strokes. The Bruins have won a total of 11 NWC championships in women's golf.
GFU received the NWC's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championship. The NCAA Championship will be held May 10-13 at the Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas.
Makensie Toole led GFU by winning the individual NWC Tournament title with a score of 146. She shot a 75 in the first round and a 71 in the second round. Her 71 was the low round of the tournament.
Toole and four of her teammates grabbed the top five spots on the individual leaderboard. Liana Brown was second at 148 (74-74) and Alison Takamiya placed third at 152 (73-79). Allie Slingsby was fourth with a score of 155 (76-79), while Kaitlyn Tonai placed fifth at 157 (78-79).
Brianna McNelly from Whitworth University took sixth place with a 161 (81-80). Katya Kurkoski of Whitman College, who competed as an individual, was seventh at 154 (86-78). Whitworth's Julia Diaz finished in eighth place at 166 (83-83). Kamryn Ford of Lewis & Clark College earned ninth place at 170 (85-85) and Maddie Hahn of Whitworth was 10th at 171 (87-84).
In the final NWC Tournament team standings, the George Fox score of 601 (298-303) was followed by Whitworth in second place at 669 (335-334). Linfield University was third at 748 (381-367), with Pacific Lutheran University in fourth place at 750 (375-375), and Pacific University in fifth at 809 (396-413). Lewis & Clark was sixth at 818 (404-414) and the University of Puget Sound was seventh at 829 (397-432). Willamette and Whitman did not field complete teams.
The NWC's top awards in women's golf went to Toole as the NWC Player of the Year, Brown as the NWC Freshman of the Year, and GFU Head Coach Mary Jo McCloskey as the NWC Coach of the Year.
First Team All-NWC selections were Toole, Brown, Takamiya, and Tonai of George Fox, along with McNelly and Diaz from Whitworth. Second Team All-NWC recognition went to Slingsby and Avery Kagayama from GFU, Kurkoski of Whitman, Ford from L&C, as well as Hahn and Stacia Sarty of Whitworth.
In the final NWC point standings, George Fox recorded 32 points to secure the championship, while Whitworth was second with 28 points. Pacific Lutheran and Linfield tied for third place with 21 points, Pacific was fifth with 11, and Lewis & Clark was sixth with 10. Puget Sound and Whitman tied for seventh place with nine points, and Willamette was ninth with no points.