Season Review: MSUB Women’s Golf

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Evan O’Kelly Director of Communications O: (406) 657-2130 E: evan.okelly@msubillings.edu Tuesday, May 16, 2017 Season Review: MSUB Women’s Golf

Building off last season’s success, MSUB’s women’s golf team follows with another stellar year and posts the secondlowest team scoring average in school history.

BILLINGS, Mont. – A group of six returning players to the Montana State University Billings women’s golf team matched its success from a season ago, and posted the second-lowest team scoring average in school history throughout 201617.

The Yellowjackets claimed a tie for third place at the 2017 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships, ending the year with a team score of 644 (331-313). Overall, MSUB averaged a team score of 317.1 strokes per round, just over one stroke off the 2015-16 school-record mark of 316.0 strokes per round.

MSUB’s success on the course showed with four players being selected to the second-team all-GNAC, and was equaled in the classroom with four named to the academic all-conference team.

The best single-round team score of the spring was a 303, achieved at the Western New Mexico Spring Invitational on April 10 in Goodyear, Ariz. The mark was the fourth-best overall single round by a Yellowjacket team in school history.

It was one of five rounds by the Yellowjacket women this spring below 310, tied for the most ever in a single season.

Another highlight for the ‘Jackets was a win at the Beaver‘Jacket Invite in Las Vegas, where MSUB held off five other teams to claim the title on March 10-11.

MSUB Women’s Golf Team Single-Round Low Scores Rk. Event Score Season 1. D2 National Preview 303 2015-16 2. Yellowjacket Fall Invite 298 2013-14 3. Rocky Mountain Invite 301 2011-12 4. WNMU Spring Invite 303 2016-17 5. Rocky Mountain Invite 305 2011-12 While the 303 was the team’s best individual round of the year, a two-round total of 613 (307-306) at the Rocky Mountain College Invitational on Oct. 2-3, 2016 was the best tournament score of the year for the ‘Jackets. It also stands as the second-lowest two-round team total in program history, just three strokes off last year’s record of 610 at the NCAA D2 National Preview Meet.

MSUB Women’s Golf Team Two-Round Low Scores Rk. Event Score Season 1. D2 National Preview 610 2015-16 2. Rocky Mountain Invite 613 2016-17 3. WNMU Fall Invite 614 2015-16 4. Yellowjacket Fall Invite 616 2013-14 5. MSUB Spring Invite 618 2016-17

Junior Sammy Walter led MSUB in 2016-17 with a scoring average of 71.9.

The team’s success was also displayed among the tight final GNAC rankings, as MSUB’s average of 217.1 strokes was third-best and just 1.1 strokes away from conference leading Western Washington University.

Leading the ‘Jackets individually were a pair of juniors in Sammy Walter and Bailee Dexter. Walter earned second-team all-league honors for the second time in her career, after posting the seventh-best scoring average in the conference this season at 79.1 strokes per round.

The Billings native’s year was highlighted by a first-place finish in the fall, as she tied the MSUB school record for a tworound total with a 146 (72-74) at the Western Washington University Invitational on Oct. 10-12. Walter’s 72 in the opening round was the lowest single-round score of her career, and it is tied for the third-lowest single round in Yellowjacket history. The strong performance led her to GNAC Player of the Week honors, and she ended the year by tying for 12th place at the 2017 GNAC Championships.

MSUB Women’s Golf Individual Two-Round Low Scores Rk. Name Event Score 1. Kortney McNeil D2 National Preview 146 Sammy Walter WWU Invite 146 3. Kortney McNeil Yellowjacket Fall Invite 147 Kortney McNeil WNMU Invite 147 5. Kalli Stanhope CSU Pueblo Invite 149 Anna DeMars D2 National Preview 149

Season 2015-16 2016-17 2015-16 2015-16 2011-12 2015-16

Walter’s record-tying performance was one of six in the history of MSUB to break 150, five of which have come in the past two seasons. Her final scoring average on the season was the fifth-lowest in school history as well.

Dexter was close behind Walter among the final rankings, finishing second on the team and ninth in the GNAC with 79.5 strokes per round. Not only did she earn second-team all-league recognition, but she was awarded academic all-GNAC for the second year in-a-row and held the highest grade point average in the conference with a 3.94 in English.

On the course, Dexter’s season was highlighted by a personal career-best tournament score of 150 (76-74) at the Rocky Mountain College Fall Invite on Oct. 2-3, 2016. Her second round total was a new career low, and she matched it once more at the Western New Mexico University Invite in the spring. Dexter’s second-place finish at the RMC Invite earned her GNAC Player of the Week honors for the first time in her career. Her season scoring average was right behind Walter for the sixth lowest in program history as well.

Dexter earned academic all-district honors after posting the top GPA in the GNAC among women’s golfers.

Sophomore Kortney McNeil finished her second college campaign on fire, scoring at 76 or lower in four of her final six rounds of the spring. Earning second-team all-league for the second year in-a-row, McNeil saved her best round for last as she swooped into a tie for third place at the GNAC Championships with a season-best 73 on April 25.

The strong finish at the conference tournament came directly after her best two-round total of the year, as she fired back-to-back 75s at the Western New Mexico Invite and earned her second career GNAC Player of the Week award.

Overall McNeil ranked third on the team with a season scoring average of 79.9 strokes, and her performance at the GNAC tournament was the best ever by a Yellowjacket. McNeil was an academic all-conference selection as well.

MSUB Team History at GNAC Championships (Best marks in Bold) Year Score Rnd. 1 Rnd. 2 Place Top Finisher Score 2017 644 331 313 3rd/6 Kortney McNeil 154 2016 646 323 323 6th/6 Bailee Dexter 156 2015 641 322 319 2nd/5 Bailee Dexter 157 2014 665 327 338 2nd/5 Capri Ingram 162 2013 673 344 329 3rd/4 Melissa Saken 158 2012 655 332 323 3rd/4 Melissa Saken 162 2011 666 327 339 3rd/4 Kalli Stanhope 157

Rnd. 1 81 76 80 82 81 84 79

Rnd. 2 73 80 77 80 77 78 78

Place 3rd 6th T6th 4th 3rd 6th 4th

Posting a breakout season this year, sophomore Shealyn Hafer was MSUB’s fourth second-team all-conference golfer.

The Butte, Mont., native posted a scoring average of 80.0 strokes per round, and had three top-10 finishes including a pair of top-5 results. Hafer’s top performance came in the fall at the Rocky Mountain College Invite, when she notched a career-best two-round total of 154 (76-78). She went on to reach her personal single-round low of 75 in her first round of the spring, at the Beaver-‘Jacket Invite on March 10 in Las Vegas.

Finishing off a memorable four-year career with the ‘Jackets was senior captain Haley Shackelford, who earned academic all-GNAC honors for the third consecutive season. Shackelford finished the year with a scoring average of 83.9 strokes, and competed in the GNAC Championships for the third time in her career as well. Shackelford’s best marks of the season came in her final home tournament, as she tied for fourth place with a two-round total of 155 (78-77) at the MSUB Spring Invitational.

MSUB’s sixth team member, Anna DeMars, redshirted with an injury during the 2016-17 season, and will return to the course next fall with three years of eligibility remaining.

Overall, MSUB golfers had 18 top-10 finishes and nine top-5 finishes among their nine events and 17 rounds played as a team.

MSUB women’s golf team poses with the trophy after winning the MSUB-RMC Cup in the fall.

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