Women's Golf Ends Their Season in 6th Place at Nationals
The Reiver women wrapped up a solid week at the 2024 NJCAA National Championships played in Melbourne, FL this past week. Entering the week ranked 8th ion the nation and Runner-up at the Plains District a few weeks prior the team had a lot ot prove.
Day 1 the team posted a score of 321 and found themselves tied for 6th place. A good start for the opening round. Sophomore's Baylie Pyke and Wen-Yi Hung led the team with a round of 77 & 78 respectfully. Freshman Charlie Maxwell helped in the scoring with a 79. "It is key to get off to a good start at this tournament." Said head Coach Matt Robinson. "If you don't get off good you are just scrambling the rest of the week to make up ground".
Day 2 brought a early start and once again the Reivers got rolling early. The three players continued to shoot low rounds. Pyke-74, Maxwell-76 and Hung-80, along with Freshman Rylin Davidson's 84 brought the team score down to 314 and in solo 6th place.
After the field was reshuffled the team went up against the top teams in the field and held their own on Day 3, actually shooting their best round of the tournemt-310. "It was good to compete against the top teams and not back down. It was shaky to start but they just kept firing at the pins and scoring," said Robinson. Again, the top three improved their scoring again. Pyke found herself below par at 72, Maxwell followed with75 and Hung a 76. Freshman Beatriz Pineiro rounded out the scoring at 88.
Wanting to finish the tournament on a good note the women maintained their spot and finished in 6th place over-all. The team shot the lowest score in program history with a score of 1.266 breaking the old record by 12 strokes. Pyke finished in 5th spot earning 1st Team All-American honors. She also tied the individual tournament low round for Iowa western. Her 293 tied the 2017 Individual National Champion, Sena Ersoy.
"We had a great year. The players should be proud of what they did all year, not just at the National Championship," said Robinson. "We are going to lose Pyke, Maxwell and Hung and they will be missed. They meant a lot to our program. We have a great nucleus coming back in Davidson, Pinheiro and Lauren Brown."