Gilmore Keeps Individual Crown, But St. Thomas Reclaims Team Title

By Mike Fermoyle (mikefermoyle@gmail.com)

COON RAPIDS -- One day after posting the lowest single-round score (297) in the history of the MIAC women's golf tournament, St. Thomas equaled the fourth-lowest score (311). If you want another way to measure how good the Tommies were at Bunker Hills GC over the last three days at the conference tournament, consider this: They ended up with three players who finished in the top six individually, four in the top 10, and all five of their players were in the top 12.

Needless to say, they won the team championship. 

Carleton, the defending champion, was the only real threat to St. Thomas going into Monday's final round. But the Tommies had the title locked up after the first five holes. 

"We trailed by seven; so we needed to get off to a good start," Carleton coach Eric Sieger said. "Instead, we got off to about as bad a start as I could fathom."

In those opening five holes, the Tommies were 3 over, the Knights were 19. 

St. Thomas nearly set another scoring mark with its 54-hole total of 937 -- it was two higher than the record of 935 that Carleton established with last year. The Knights finished with a 959 this year, good enough for second place. St. Catherine was third, another eight behind at 967, and St. Benedict was fourth with a 997. (The Carleton lineup is missing junior Shannon Holden this fall, while she takes part in a campus study program in Madrid, Spain. Holden was the 2013 MIAC individual champion, and finished second behind teammate Grace Gilmore last year.)

With the victory, St. Thomas earned a spot in the NCAA Division III Championships next May. 

"St. Thomas is unbelievably good, and so is Carleton," marvelled St. Benedict coach Daryl Schomer. "I've been coaching in this conference for five years (Schomer, one of Minnesota's best mid-amateur tournament players, was a boys high school coach before that), and the level of play has improved dramatically in that time. In my first year, if we had shot what we shot this year, we might have finished second. Now we're fourth, 30 shots out of third."

As a matter of fact, in 2010, the year before Schomer took over as coach of the Blazers, Gustavus won the MIAC title with a 974, and St. Olaf was second at 1020, followed by St. Benedict at 1030, Carleton at 1040 and St. Thomas at 1049.

"It's hard to believe how much St. Thomas and Carleton have improved in the time that I've been here," Schomer said. "Those are two really good Division III golf teams. And we're improving, too, right along with St. Catherine. I was hoping we could finish in the top four this year; so I was happy with our performance here. The thing is that competition in this conference just keeps getting better and better."

Carleton may have lost the team title, but it did retain the individual crown, thanks to Grace Gilmore. The senior from Edina was the medalist for the second year in a row. She led wire to wire, and even though she struggled a bit in a final-round 81, she equaled her winning score from last year -- 231.

It was the fifth victory of her college career -- and her second in two weeks. The 2014-15 All-American Scholar won the College City Challenge on Sept. 27 at Bellwood Oaks near Hastings.

In the five tournaments that the Knights played this fall, Gilmore never finished lower than sixth.

“Grace has been exactly what we needed this fall,” Sieger noted. “She’s been so steady, so consistent and such a great leader for our younger players. I know she wanted to play better today and help the team make a run at St. Thomas, but for her to win back-to-back individual MIAC titles, that’s pretty heady stuff. To watch the progress she’s made in her game from her freshman year to now, and how she’s worked on her game is an example for all our players to follow.”

Gilmore won by three strokes over Emily Thul of St. Thomas and St. Benedict's Natalie Amundson, a freshman from Alexandria. Both of them were shaky in Saturday's opening round, Amundson shooting 84 in the first round of her first MIAC tournament, and Thul limping her way to an 83. But they bounced back nicely on Sunday, Thul with a 73 and Amundson a 74. On Monday, Amundson had the low score of the day, a 76, and Thul had the third-best score, a 78, as both wound up with aggregates of 234.

Carleton's Ziyi Wang, a freshman from Bejing City, shot 78 and finished alone in fourth at 235. 

Then came two more Tommies. Rachel Morris, who was fourth last year, ended up fifth this year with 237, after matching Amundson's final-round 76. Erin Dingmann, who started the day in second place, was the only St. Thomas player who struggled. She got off to a bad start, never really recovered and signed for an 84. Even so, she still managed to finish solo sixth with a 238.  

The fourth St. Thomas player in the top 10 was Marja Sorenson. She did it the hard way, starting off with a 90 on Saturday. But the freshman from Rocori  came back with the lowest round -- and only sub-par round -- of the tournament on Sunday, a 1-under 71, and then concluded her fall season with a 79 on  Monday, which earned her a tie for ninth at 240. 

COLLEGE WOMEN'S GOLF

MIAC Championships

At Bunker Hills Golf Course

Par 72, 5,857 yards

Coon Rapids

Final results 

1. St. Thomas               329-297-311-937

2. Carleton                    324-309-326--953

3. St. Catherine            328-320-319--967

4. St. Benedict              341-330-326--997

5. Bethel                       343-336-332--1011

6. Gustavus Adolphus 345-334-335--1014

7. St. Olaf                      358-360-339--1057

8. Concordia                  349-371-356--1076

9. Augsburg                   360-367-353--1080

10. St. Mary's                   362-359-369--1090

11. Macalester                367-377-359--1103

Individuals

1. Grace Gilmore, Carleton        76-74-81--231

T2. Emily Thul, St. Thomas        83-73-78--234

T2. Natalie Amundson, St. Ben  84-74-76--234

4. Ziyi Wang, Carleton                 80-77-78--235

5. Rachel Morris, St. Thomas      84-77-75--237

6. Erin Dingman, St. Thomas      78-76-84--238

T7. Abby Conzemius, St. Catherine  82-78-79--239

T7. Sydney Busker, St. Catherine  81-80-78--239

T9. Marja Sorenson, St. Thomas   90-71-79--240

T9. Ayumi Sakamoto, Carleton       79-79-82--240

11. Kaitlyn Alvarez, St. Catherine   83-81-78--242

12. Morgan McCorkle, St. Thomas 84-82-78--244

13. Lauren Wise, St. Benedict        84-79-82--245

T14. Abby Perrenoud, Bethel          83-82-82--247

T14. Christine Piwnica, Bethel         892-81-84--247