Broncho women’s golf drives to builds off fall successes

Cal Haydon

Contributing Writer

The Central Oklahoma women’s golf team begun preparation for the Spring portion of the season earlier this week after student-athletes returned back to campus for the start of the second semester.

UCO will kick-off their 2023 schedule in Spring, TX, on Feb. 20, where they will look to build off their Fall campaign which ended at the Tulsa Cup in October. The Bronchos competed in five events this season and have recorded two top-five finishes, including a second-place finish in the Grace Shin Invitational.

“This is such a fun group to be around,” UCO head women’s golf coach Michael Bond said. “I’m excited for the Spring to start and watch them compete, their best is good enough and look forward to see how far we can go.”

With weather conditions constantly changing this time of the year, and after being separated a couple weeks for the holidays, the Broncho golf team wasted no time scheduling practice to start preparing for their upcoming schedule.

“This time of the year we are so weather dependent,” said Coach Bond. “We will get outside as much as we can, work on short game and get back in the routine. We’ve already had a couple of fun team competitions this week.”

UCO’s season scoring results as a team consist of 10 rounds played, while posting an average score of 313.2 and a versus par score of +26.

Madison O’Dell, a fifth-year senior, and Emma Shelley, a fourth-year junior, lead the team as veterans with a combined 72 tournaments played in overall for the Bronchos. The two have posted average scores of 78.8 and 78.1 through the Fall events.

Jirasuda Khunarack, a junior, is off to a strong start in her first year as a Broncho. The Ranger College transfer led the team in the Fall posting an average score of 76.78.

Mika Ramos, Nanya Hinsui and Arin Zachary complete the roster for the UCO team. The three have added average scores of 80, 81.86 and 82.

Central Oklahoma has six Spring tournaments on its schedule beginning with next month’s event in Texas. UCO will then compete in the Diffee Ford Lincoln Invitational in Oklahoma City on March 6-7 before the Emerald Coast Classic in Florida on March 12-14.

The Bronchos are also scheduled to play at the Newman Invite in Kansas on April 3-4 and the Dr. Virginia Laas Classic in Missouri on April 10-11. UCO will then begin postseason competition at the MIAA Championships in Joplin, Mo,