The North Central Missouri College Lady Pirate golfers traveled to Marion, Iowa over the weekend, playing in the Klocke Family Classic at the Hunters Ridge Course, hosted by Mount Mercy University.
With Coach Daniel Cordray admitting that his young squad undoubtedly battled nerves in the event, the Lady Pirates finished with a two-day score of 393, good for 9th place.
This fall’s Lady Pirate roster is heavy on incoming freshmen, although the return of Lauren Quimby, a sophomore from Tarkio High School, provided a solid backbone to the NCMC effort, with Quimby shooting 79 on Saturday, good for 5th place individually, with a 91 on Sunday dropping her to 11th place, one spot from All-Tournament Team status. The opening round 79 set personal best 18 hold round for Quimby.
Jessica Sheil, a freshman from Maryville High School, posted a 93 on Saturday and 91 on Sunday, with the 184 good for 26th place in her collegiate debut. Other Lady Pirate scores were freshman Carson Hall (Moberly, MO) at 213, freshman Gretchen Tharp (Rock Port, MO) at 223, and sophomore Shayla Woodside (Trenton, MO) at 285. Team scores for NCMC were 397 on Saturday and 393 on Sunday.
Coach Cordray showed encouragement from the season debut for the Lady Pirates, telling KTTNSports.com, “Our goal is to peak in mid-April at regionals and to improve all the way until then. I feel each of the ladies took away things we need to work on for improving. Having two individuals, and a freshman at that, cracking the top half of the field in their first tournament was a great accomplishment.”