Bagging the Mountain Lions Jen Wins Again

Three is Jennifer Kupcho’s magic number. The Westminster native won three times on the LPGA Tour last year—a feat for which she’ll receive her third Golf Person of the Year award from the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame this month. She was thrice honored by the Sportswomen of Colorado, thus becoming a member of that organization’s Hall of Fame, and on March 12, she became the third golfer in that organization’s 49-year history to win its Sportswoman of the Year Award, following U.S. Women’s Amateur champions Cindy Hill (1974) and Jill McGill (1993).

McGill, the 2022 U.S. Senior Women’s Open champion, was also honored that night for a third time by SWOC, enshrining her in its Hall of Fame. Other golfers honored included State 4A and AJGA Hale Irwin champion Hadley Ashton, 2022 CGA Women’s Match Play champion and Player of the Year Leigha Devine and LPGA Instructor Ann Wolta Blackstone, who has coached St. Mary’s Academy to two straight 3A state titles, earning her the Joan Birkland Leadership Award. sportswomenofcolorado.org

“It’s unbelievable to me,” Phil Trujillo, who has coached the University of Colorado Colorado Springs (UCCS) men’s golf team for 24 years, said upon hearing that for budgetary reasons the school would eliminate the men’s and women’s golf programs at the conclusion of the current season.

“Our program is the most successful program in the history of athletics at UCCS,” Trujillo continued. “The boys are completely torn up and saddened by the news because obviously we were all caught off guard.”

“This was an incredibly difficult decision, but also necessary in order to ensure the university and department’s budget expectations were met,” UCCS Executive Director of Athletics Nathan Gibson said in a press release, adding that the school’s Professional Golf Management Program—the only one in Colorado—will continue operating as it has since 2003 as part of the UCCS College of Business.

Eligible student-athletes receiving an athletic scholarship will have their scholarship honored in full through the 2023-24 academic year. Those choosing to transfer can compete at that institution beginning next fall. But for this spring, they’ll all remain Mountain Lions and try to go out with a roar by making it to the NCAA II championships next month. uccs.edu