YANKTON, S.D. – The opening day of the 2024-25 season for Concordia University Women’s Golf arrived on Thursday (Aug. 29) as the first of two rounds of the Mount Marty Invite unfolded. Ten Bulldogs joined the field of 73 golfers at Hillcrest Country Club in Yankton, S.D., where lightning halted action in the middle of round one. The weather cleared and the Concordia ‘A’ grouping shot a team score of 341 on a day characterized by low scoring.
Fourteenth-year Head Coach Brett Muller rolled out a tournament roster including four freshmen. The Mount Marty Invite will provide an early measuring stick for the Bulldogs in relation to some of their GPAC counterparts. Currently in ninth place, Concordia stands in front of both Northwestern (10th) and Hastings (11th) with 18 holes to be played on Friday.
A returning Second Team All-GPAC award winner, junior Emery Custer paced the Bulldogs with an eight-over-par 80 in Thursday’s round. Custer resides in a tie for 16th on the individual leaderboard (eight strokes off the tournament leader from Bellevue University). Custer was joined in the team’s top five by a pair of freshmen. One of those freshmen, Kearney, Neb., native Taylor McGuire, shot an 85 in her first collegiate round while fellow rookie Savannah McFalls (Omaha, Neb.) shot an 88. Returners Jennifer Gillotti and Maddie Lewis also carded 88s in helping round out a solid team performance. All Bulldog scores from the day are listed below.
One of Custer’s stated goals for the team was to shoot below 350 in every round this season. Concordia appears poised to improve upon its 2023-24 team average of 357.2. Depth is added to the lineup by the likes of Audra Poffinbarger, Sarah Wilson, Emma McCoy, Abigail Kollbaum and Makenzie Hughes.
Mount Marty Invite Day 1 Results:
‘A’ Team – 9th place (341)
T16. Emery Custer: 80
T31. Taylor McGuire: 85
T45. Jennifer Gillotti: 88
T45. Maddie Lewis: 88
T45. Savannah McFalls: 88
T58. Audra Poffinbarger: 94
61. Sarah Wilson: 96
T65. Emma McCoy: 99
67. Abigail Kollbaum: 100
72. Makenzie Hughes: 108
The Mount Marty Invite will resume at 10 a.m. CT on Friday from Fox Run Golf Course in Yankton, S.D. Live scoring can be followed via Golf Genius with the GGID of MMUW24.