VERMILLION, S.D. – The 2021-22 GPAC Women’s Golf Championships opened on Monday (Oct. 4) with the 12 conference schools convening at The Bluffs Golf Course in Vermillion, S.D. The Concordia University Women’s Golf team carded a score of 351 and currently slots in at seventh on the GPAC leaderboard. Four total conference rounds (two in the fall and two in the spring) are played each season to decide a GPAC champion.
Head Coach Brett Muller’s program entered this season having placed third in the GPAC in both 2019-20 and 2020-21. The Bulldogs have work to do in order to move into that territory again this season. However, they are within 12 strokes of second-place Briar Cliff (339).
Monday marked the start of Kendra Placke’s quest for a fourth-straight all-conference award. The Seward High School product shot an eight-over-par 80 in round one and sits in sixth place out of 59 conference golfers. Placke is six strokes behind tournament leader Sofia Castelan of Morningside. Over the previous three seasons, Placke has turned in respective GPAC place finishes of fifth, sixth and seventh.
Lincoln, Neb., native Lauren Havlat has the ability to challenge for an all-conference placement. She is currently tied for 14th after carding an 86 on Monday. She placed 36th in the GPAC last season. The rest of the lineup includes Mya Nurse (92; T-39th), Logan Eschliman (93; T-42nd) and Emily Jensen (97; 48th). Eschliman and Havlat both competed in all four GPAC championship rounds last season.
Concordia carded a four-round GPAC total of 368-359-327-339–1,393 last season. Placke was joined on the 2020-21 All-GPAC honor list by teammates Mia Martin and Andrea Peterson.
Round two is set to begin from The Bluffs at 10 a.m. CT on Tuesday. Rounds three and four of the conference tournament are slated to take place at Norfolk Country Club in Norfolk, Neb., April 25-26, 2022.
Live results from the GPAC tournament can followed via Golf Genius. The Golf Genius ID is 2122WGPAC.