Illinois College women’s golf team captured its fifth consecutive Midwest Conference Championship in October and now will have the chance to compete for a National Championship at the 2008 NCAA Tournament. The event will be held Tuesday-Friday, May 13-16 at the Centennial Oaks Golf Club in Waverly, Iowa and is hosted by Wartburg.

The MWC received annual automatic qualifier status to the NCAA tourney a year ago, marking the Lady Blues’ second straight NCAA appearance. Women’s golf is a fall sport in the MWC, but is classified by as a spring sport by the NCAA, thus creating the gap between the MWC and NCAA meets.

Brenna Kelly’s team will be represented by freshman Ashley Edwards, 2008 MWC individual champion and junior Janelle Kuhn, freshman Juliann Papesch, junior Meredith Robinson and junior Leah Reuschel.

The Illinois College roster will play in five consecutive threesomes, with all five players set to tee off between 7:30 a.m. and 8:10 a.m.

Illinois College led pillar to post, increasing its lead each day over runner-up Knox, as the Lady Blues captured their fifth consecutive Midwest Conference Women’s Golf Team Championship on Sunday (October 7) at Glen Erin Golf Course in Janesville, Wis.

Brenna Kelly’s team earned the conference’s automatic qualifier to the 2008 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship Tournament, to be held in Waverly, Iowa in May.

The Lady Blues placed four players in the top ten, including junior Janelle Kuhn (2nd place, 249), junior Meredith Robinson (3rd, 251), senior Kristen Schmalz (5th, 260) and freshman Juliann Papesch (6th, 264). Illinois College’s Brittany Parsons (288) and Leah Reuschel (291) finished 16th and 17th, respectively, while Ashley Edwards (298) placed 25th.

St. Norbert sophomore Andrea Liebelt (right) was the MWC individual champion, winning medalist honors with a three-day total of 241. The 2007 conference meet marked the second year the tournament meet was 54 holes and Liebelt’s score stands as the best, as she topped four-time MWC champion and All-American Carey Cappel, who scored a 245 for Illinois College in 2006. Knox freshman Jessica DeMory rounded out the top five individuals by placing fourth with a score of 254. 

For the first time since 2002, the Midwest Conference will crown a new individual women’s golf champion, as the 2007 MWC Women’s Golf Championship unfolds on Friday, Saturday and Sunday October 5-7. The three-day event, which is hosted by Beloit College, will take place at Glen Erin Golf Course in Janesville, Wis.

Illinois College ’s Carey Cappel, who graduated in May, followed in the footsteps of Grinnell’s Hilary Minnick to become the second student-athlete in conference history to win four individual league titles in her career last season. Cappel’s departure leaves the individual honors open, but with four of her former teammates who scored in last year’s conference meet returning, the Lady Blues look to be the favorite to win a fifth consecutive MWC team title. For the second year in a row, the conference’s team champion will receive an automatic berth to the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship Tournament, which will be played in the spring (May 13-16) in Waverly, Iowa.

The 2007 MWC Championships will begin at 9 a.m. on Friday, while Saturday and Sunday’s tee times have been pushed back to 10 a.m. and 9:45 a.m., respectively. The Glen Erin Golf Course is an 18-hole, 71-par course that covers 5,817 yards with a rating of 72.7 and a slope of 124. Players will hit from the green tees on all holes with the exception of No. 7 (white).

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Cody Pinkston has been selected to replace Bill Peters, who resigned last month after three years at the helm, as the new women’s golf coach at Ripon. A former golf professional, Pinkston brings with him a wealth of instruction, tournament-operations and playing experience. Pinkston also serves as the director of media and public relations for Ripon College.

A native of Medford, Wis., Pinkston enjoyed great success as a junior player and eventually led the Medford High School team to consecutive Lumberjack Conference championships, capped by an individual second-place finish at the 1992 WIAA Division I Boys’ State Championship. He attended UW-La Crosse from 1992-1994 and later transferred to New Mexico State University’s Professional Golf Management program, from which he graduated in 1997 with a degree in marketing.

Pinkston will also take over the reigns of the school’s men’s golf program, replacing head football coach Ron Ernst

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