Both DU’s men’s and women’s golf teams won their respective conference championships this last week and have secured their trips to the 2014 NCAA Regional Championships.
The men finished the tournament a collective 34 over par, shooting 898 on the tournament, while the women took 887 strokes in the three-day tournament, which was good for 23 over par.
The men’s team started off the tournament on top, winning the first day with a score of 292.
A disappointing second round score of 308, however, saw the Pioneers move back into second place before rebounding on day three.
A third round score of 298 was good enough to move the Pios back into the number one spot, five strokes above the second place Indiana University-Purdue University (IUPUI) Jaguars.
The men’s effort was spearheaded by the trio of junior Victor Doka, senior Ole Ramsnes and freshman Patrick Frodigh, who all tied for third in the tournament with scores of 224, just eight over par on the tournament.
The Pios were down eight strokes to the Jaguars heading into the final day, but Doka’s 71 on the third day led DU back to victory. This is the men’s third conference title in the program’s history, and their second in the past four years.
“I’m very proud of the way we battled back today to secure the victory,” said Eric Hoos, head coach of the men’s golf team. “When the pressure was most, we came through the best. The guys showed a lot of heart and they never gave up.”
The women’s team took home their unprecedented 11th straight conference title in a convincing fashion. The Pios finished with a final score of 887 and a monumental 71 stroke margin of victory, which was good enough for a new tournament record. After a first round score of 295, the women ran the table on the rest of the field, finishing with second and third round scores of 300 and 292 respectively.
No other team was able to shoot better than 314 in any round, emphasizing the Pios’ dominance throughout the tournament.
The women nearly monopolized the top five of the leader-board as Tonje Daffinrud, Mariell Bruun, Elyse Smidinger and Isabel Southard were all able to claim top-five finishes. Senior Daffinrud came in first place overall with a score of 219, or three over par.
“We’re really excited to bring back another conference championship, and I think all of the ladies are really excited on the way they played this week to finish it up with the final round,” said Head Coach Lindsay Kuhle, who just won her second consecutive conference title.
Both of the teams managed to secure their places in the NCAA regional tournament. The women’s tournament takes place May 8-10 in Cle Elum, Wash., while the men’s team will compete May 15-17.
