The Murray State women’s golf team finished strong in the OVC Women’s Golf Championship this week, placing third out of 11 teams and ending the season with a bang.
The Racers made a tremendous comeback at the tournament held in Dickson, Tenn., putting themselves just four shots behind the leading team Eastern Kentucky and one shot behind Jacksonville State.
However, that wasn’t enough to put the Racers ahead as they finished in a close third place to finish out the season.
Coach Velvet Milkman said she was happy with the team’s work despite the close loss.
“We were disappointed with the outcome because obviously, our goal is to win,” Milkman said. “But I’m very pleased with the effort that the team made on the last day.”
Despite the tough loss, senior Alexandra Lennartsson and junior Delaney Howson were both named to the OVC All-Tournament Team.
Lennartsson placed third in the tournament out of 50 players with a score of 226, and Howson placed fifth with a score of 228.
Coach Milkman said she was proud of the two players’ play in the tournament.
“I’m not surprised they were named all-tournament honors,” Milkman said. “They are also all-conference players, certainly two of the best players in the conference. So I was very pleased for them to get that award.”
Coach Milkman said the season went exactly as she planned except for the team’s third-place finish in the OVC tournament.
“The goal is to win the OVC Championship, and you know, that didn’t happen,” Milkman said. “However, I still feel like we had a very good year. We had several tournament wins and several individual wins as well. I felt like our team improved significantly, which is all I can really ask.”
The Racers won first place in three tournaments this year and placed within the top five in five additional tournaments.
Milkman said there is one thing she is expecting her team will be doing during next year’s season.
“Hopefully to continue to be getting better,” Milkman said. “I think that we have a very competitive team and our goal is to remain competitive and, hopefully, next year we can win that last tournament.”
Story by Taylor Crum, Assistant Sports Editor.