Point Loma Nazarene of San Diego captured its first Pac West Conference Women’s Golf Championship by 21 strokes over Academy of Art in San Francisco on the Beach Course at Waikoloa Village Golf Club in Waikoloa, Hawaii.
The Sea Lions posted a score of 307-294-303—904, 64-over-par, followed by Academy of Art at 316-307-302—925, Biola of La Mirada at 313-312-314—939, Hawaii-Hilo at 320-312-322—954, Holy Names of Oakland at 316-326-322—964 and Hawaii Pacific at 341-323-334—998.
Dominican of San Rafael totaled 297-230—527 for two rounds, but did not have enough healthy players in the final round because of injuries.
“This means so much,” Coach Lance Hancock of top-seeded Point Loma said. “We have a great culture around us now. It starts with the seniors and it has moved out to the women who have come in this year. They have fallen right in line and really bought into our culture. They love each other and it shows, and I think that has made all the difference in the world.
“I prefer to play with a target on our backs. I felt it was well-deserved. These kids can play and I felt in my heart that if they just play the way they have all year, I’m not sure we can get beat. I welcome the opportunity to be in that top seed position and have everyone come after us.
“We had a good system in the practice round, but it didn’t translate on that first day. We were a little shaky and it took a little bit of time. But on that second day, we regrouped and talked about different goals to stay consistent with our process. They then just knocked it out of the park on that second day.”
Anahi Servin of Academy of Art, a junior from Paraguay, claimed her third straight individual conference title with a score of 72-69-67—208, 2-under, followed by Claire Shubin of Dominican at 72-74-71—217, Aubrey Corpuz of Holy Names at 69-73-80—222 and Plern Rattanaprakarn of Academy of Art at 73-73-77—223.
“Anahi was very dominant this week, she is an outstanding team leader and showed that she has the ability to take over a tournament,” Academy of Art Coach Mitch Lowe said. “It’s so cool that she has won three PacWest Championships in a row, and she’s looking forward to the rest of the postseason. We’re very proud of her.”
Alli Kim of Point Loma Nazarene shot 79-70-75—224 to tie for fifth with Brady Turnquist of Biola, who finished at 74-73-77—224, while Nicola Kaminski of Point Loma Nazarene totaled 78-73-74—225 to tie for seven with Sea Lion teammate Christine Perez, who wound up at 75-75-75—225, and Kaelyn Uchida of Hawaii-Hilo, who came in at 75-73-77—225, and Tia Kualii of Hawaii-Hilo was 10th at 76-77-75—228.
Rounding out the scoring for team champion Point Loma Nazarene were Raquel Prado in 12th at 75-76-80—231 and Tabetha Kang in 13th at 79-77-79—235.
Point Loma earned the Pac West Conference’s bid to into the NCAA West Regional at Wildhorse Golf Club in Denton, Texas, on May 3-5.
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