Shocker Women's Golf 2022-23 Season

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks finish round 2 at 11-over on the round putting them at 21-over after 2 rounds and in 8th place. Georgia State has taken the lead at 4-over par for 2 rounds.

In Round 2 freshman Mackenzie Wilson led the way with a 1-under 71, improving by 5 shots from her morning round, followed by Megan Lucas and Kenni Henson each at 3-over 75 and Mar Vidal at 6-over 78, after scoring a 73 in the morning round. Sarah Lawson again had the throw away score at 10-over 82 and is providing little support in the #5 slot.

Wilson and Vidal pretty much just swapped performances in round 2 vs round 1 as consistency continues to be a challenge for the Shocks..

[1972Shocker]

Fall Action Concludes at Ozarks National Invitational

Ozarks National Invitational

• Dates: Monday-Wednesday, Oct. 31-Nov. 2
• Host: Missouri State
• Location: Hollister, Mo. (Ozarks National Golf Course)
• Yardage: 6,125
• Par: 72
• Format: 54 Holes (18 Monday, 18 Tuesday, 18 Wednesday)
• Live Scoring: BirdieFire.com
• The Field: 11 teams
Missouri State, Bradley, Omaha, Northern Iowa, UT Arlington, Indiana State, Toledo, Murray State, South Dakota, Drake, Wichita State

---

Definitely another mid-major field, but that is pretty much where Shocker women's golf capabilities are these days.

Wichita State will be represented with this lineup: Mackenzie Wilson, Kenni Henson, Megan Lucas, Sarah Lawson and Mar Vidal.

[1972Shocker]

Round 1 is in the books for the Ozarks National Invitational and the Lady Shockers have the lead over the mid-major field with a 13-over par score putting them 2 shots up on South Dakota and Toledo, 5 shots up on Murray State and Drake and 7 shots up on Northern Iowa which accounts for the top 6. The remaining 6 teams range from 11 to 22 shots off the lead with host MIssouri State in 11th at 32-over and Indiana State in 12th at 35-over.

Megan Lucas led the Shocks with an even par 72, followed by Mackenzie Wilson at 2-over, Mar Vidal at 4-over and Kenni Henson and Sarah Lawson both at 7-over par with one of those scores not counting.

Round 2 is Tuesday and Round 3 on Wednesday.

Corrected score: The Shockers are at 14-under with a 1 stroke lead. There are probably another 5 teams (at least) within striking distance and that assumes the Shocks don't implode. Hard to predict how this team will perform from round-to-round.

[1972Shocker]

Round 2 has not worked out so well for the LadyShocks who shot 18-over to put them at 32-over for the Tournament dropping them from 1st place to 4th place as they trail leader Murray State by 11 strokes.

Freshman Mackenzie Wilson, who I'm thinking has been the best on the Shocker team this fall, did her job shooting a 2-under par 70 and she is at the top of individual leader board by 1 stroke at even par for the 1st rounds. The rest of the lineup did not play nearly so well. Megan Lucas shot 6-over 78, Mar Vidal and Sarah Lawson both shot 7-over 79, and Kenni Henson came it at 10-over 82 which was the throw away score.

Omaha gained 13 strokes on the Shockers today and are only 1 stroke behind the Shocks.

In both of the first 2 rounds he 5 Shockers combined for 23 bogeys. The team actually had more birdies today with 15 vs 8 in round 1. However, in round 1 they only had 3 double bogeys vs 7 double bogeys and 2 triple bogeys which more than offset the increase in birdies. Thank goodness they had 7 more birdies or today would have been much worse.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Wilson Finishes in Three-Way Tie for First at Ozarks

HOLLISTER, Mo. - Mackenzie Wilson closed the book on her first semester of collegiate golf with co-individual medalist honors at the Ozarks National Invitational.

The Shockers posted a team score of 45-over par, 909, finishing just four strokes behind South Dakota, who took home the team title at 41-over par. Murray State took second at 42-over par.

Wilson finished in a three-way tie for first place at 2-over par, 218, tying with Northern Iowa's McKenna Mallow and South Dakota's Akari Hayashi. The Australia native posted her best round on day two with a 2-under par, 70. She becomes the first individual medalist for Wichita State since Taryn Torgerson won the American Athletic Conference Championship in April of 2018.

Megan Lucas recorded a career-best finish in sixth at 9-over par, 225. Lucas now has two top 10 finishes this season after having just one the past two seasons combined.

Mar Vidal saved her best round for last, turning in a final round score of 1-over par, 73 to finish in a tie for 12th overall (12-over par, 228).

Sarah Lawson and Kenni Henson rounded out the Shocker lineup in the Ozarks in a tie for 48th and 57th, respectively.

Wichita State will begin the spring season on Feb. 12 at the Tulane Classic in New Orleans, La.

[1972Shocker]

The Shockers shoot their best score of the tournament in Round 3 at 13-under (1 stroke better than Round 1) to finish at 45-over par good enough for 3rd place in the 12-team mid-major filed. South Dakota takes first at 41-over par and Murray State was 2nd at 42-over.

https://birdiefire.com/tournament/143293/

The highlight for the Shockers was the play of freshman Mackenzie Wright who finished in a 3-way tie for medalist honors at 2-over par with 1st place tie with McKenna Mallow of Northern Iowa and Akari Hayashi of South Dakota. Mallow, also a freshman appeared well on her way to winning medalist honors as she was 7-under on the round and 2-under for the tournament after her first 15 holes on the day (8 pars and 7 birdies) but she finished bogey, double bogey, bogey to fall back to 2-over for the tournament. Mackenzie played her final 3 holes par, par, par as did Hayshi, a junior. Note that because of the shot-gun start each player played a different set of holes for their final 3 holes. Not sure if they will playoff that tie or not. My guess is they won't. They will just be co-medalists. Note, as a team UNI finished 9th at 64-over par.

For the Tournament the Shocker players place and scored as follows:

T1 - Fr. Mackenzie Wright: 74-70-74 = 218
6 - Sr. Megan Lucas: 73-78-74 = 225
T12 - Jr. Mar Vidal: 76-79-73 = 228
T48 - So. Sarah Lawson: 79-79-80 = 238
T57 - Sr. Kennis Henson: 79-82-81 = 242

If the Shocks could have gotten a couple of strokes better from either Sarah or Kenni they would have won this tournament. Although not really sure what that would have really meant in the big picture considering the field.

The Shocks are done for the fall and will start up again on February 12th at the Tulane Classic in New Orleans. Perhaps that will be a better measuring stick although we'll have to see who is in the field in addition to Tulane and the Shocks.

[SubGod22]

I'm just going to plug this in here.

Go Shockers - Hillary Currier Signs with Wichita State

A native of Olathe, Currier will stay in the Sunflower State when she joins the Shocker program in the fall of 2023. She is a four-year varsity member of the Blue Valley Southwest golf team. Currier completed the 2022 golf season with six individual wins and two second place finishes behind a stroke average of 75.33. She earned First Team All-State honors as both a junior and senior and was the 2021 Kansas High School Girls Golf 5A Regional Champion. Earlier this year she was the Midwest Junior PGA Championship Qualifier champion behind a round of 72. Currier holds school records in lowest individual round (70), most individual tournament wins for both season and career, lowest season stroke average, lowest team score and helped lead Blue Valley Southwest to the best state team finish in school history. As a sophomore, Currier was also a member of the swim team where she was a state qualifier in the 100 yard backstroke and 200 medley relay. In the classroom she is a member of the National Honors Society and has been on the principal's honor roll. She is the daughter of Chadd and Liane Currier, and she has one sister Ava. Currier plans to major in health sciences at Wichita State.

[1972Shocker]

Hopefully, she will be something close to Mackenzie Wilson. The Shocks need to improve their depth.

[SubGod22]

I don't know what most HS kids are shooting but she sounds like at least one of the better options in KS. You'd hope with some better coaching and training at WSU she can make improvements.

We'll have to wait and see, but Wilson definitely looks promising and hopefully we can get a couple of others to up their game or bring in a couple more that will elevate the team. I'm trying to be optimistic. It won't change overnight, but I'm hopeful that things will get better.

[1972Shocker]

The Shocks opened their spring season at the Tulane Classic on the English Turn Country Club in New Orleans. Must have been a pretty challenging course as most of the scores were pretty high with the Shockers WGT continuing to struggle than most with a 95-over par total of 959 over 3 rounds. Purdue was the winner at 33 over par.

Host Tulane was tied for 2nd at 37 over par and Memphis was tied for 7th at 63 over par.

I still think the athletic department should give serious thought of dropping women's golf and adding beach/sand volleyball. Both sports have the same scholarship limits. Beach volleyball might have chance of generating a little bit of ticket revenue and might provide benefits to the regular volleyball program. I know Lambo used to be for adding that. I don't know if that is still the case or not.

[SubGod22]

The Shocks opened their spring season at the Tulane Classic on the English Turn Country Club in New Orleans. Must have been a pretty challenging course as most of the scores were pretty high with the Shockers WGT continuing to struggle than most with a 95-over par total of 959 over 3 rounds. Purdue was the winner at 33 over par.

Host Tulane was tied for 2nd at 37 over par and Memphis was tied for 7th at 63 over par.

I still think the athletic department should give serious thought of dropping women's golf and adding beach/sand volleyball. Both sports have the same scholarship limits. Beach volleyball might have chance of generating a little bit of ticket revenue and might provide benefits to the regular volleyball program. I know Lambo used to be for adding that. I don't know if that is still the case or not.

I believe that sand VB wouldn't count towards Title IX. I'd have to double check but I'm pretty sure it would be like Track and XC and they come from the same pool. I know we're talking minimal change but it's something that has to be considered.

[1972Shocker]

I believe that sand VB wouldn't count towards Title IX. I'd have to double check but I'm pretty sure it would be like Track and XC and they come from the same pool. I know we're talking minimal change but it's something that has to be considered.

You are correct regarding Track and XC.being from same pool but that is the only sport where that applies. It does not apply to VB.

https://scholarshipstats.com/ncaalimits

Also The T&F/XC s equivalency sports where the total scholarships can be split up. Regular VB is a head count sport for its 12 scholarships but Sand VB is an equivalency sport for its 6 scholarships so those scholarships can be split up.

[SubGod22]

Go Shockers - Wichita State Hits the Course in Rio Verde

WICHITA, Kan. - Wichita State women's golf returns to action this weekend in Rio Verde, Ariz., at the Rio Verde Invitational, Feb. 24-26.

Opening round play kicks off Friday, Feb. 24 with 18 holes and concludes with 18 holes on Saturday and Sunday. Play begins at 2:00 p.m. CT all three days.

The tournament will be played on the White Wing Course at the Rio Verde Country Club, featuring a par-72, 6,044-yard layout.

Wichita State joins the 18-team field in Arizona, and will be represented with this lineup: Brooklyn Benn, Mar Vidal, Mackenzie Wilson, Sarah Lawson and Kenni Henson
.....
Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Bradley, Butler, Cal Baptist, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Illinois State, Kennesaw State, Loyola, Missouri State, Oakland, Ohio, South Dakota, Wichita State, Western Michigan and Xavier.

I don't think we expect a major step forward for the ladies, but lets see what happens this weekend.

[1972Shocker]

I don't think we expect a major step forward for the ladies, but lets see what happens this weekend.

It can be difficult to measure progress or digression from week-to-week as the weather conditions and course difficulty and setup can have a big impact on scoring. But the field of teams in this tournament doesn't look quite as strong as the Tulane Tournament. Definitely a mid-major field and almost cold weather teams except or Cal Baptist, Kennesaw State and perhaps Missouri State to a lesser degree. I would be quite disappointed and concerned if we finish 18th in this field and I don't think that will happen.

[SubGod22]

I'm not sure what to take from this. A good final round but an eh kind of weekend?

Go Shockers - Shockers Save Best Round for Final Day in Rio Verde

RIO VERDE, Ariz. - Wichita State women's golf saved its best round for the final day of the Rio Verde Invitational Sunday afternoon.

Wichita State shot a low round of 304 on Sunday to finish with a total team score of 60-over par, 924 (308-312-304). Xavier won the team title at 11-over par.

Mackenzie Wilson and Mar Vidal tied for 34th at 12-over par, 228. Wilson carded a low round of 74 on Saturday and finished with a 3-over par, 75 on Sunday. Vidal lowered her scores each day, beginning with a 78 on Friday. She finished with a 76 and a 74 on Saturday and Sunday.

Finishing two strokes back was Kenni Henson at 14-over par, 230. Henson turned in her best round on day one with a 2-over par, 74.

Brooklyn Benn and Sarah Lawson rounded out the lineup at 29-over par and 36-over par, respectively.

T34. Mackenzie Wilson: 79-74-75--228 (+12)
T34. Mar Vidal: 78-76-74--228 (+12)
T41. Kenni Henson: 74-79-77--230 (+14)
T86. Brooklyn Benn: 77-88-80--245 (+29)
93. Sarah Lawson: 91-83-78--252 (+36)

Brooklyn and Sarah aren't helping at all.