Bruins Hope to Target NWC Fall Classic as First Step toward Another Conference Title
NEWBERG, Ore. – After parlaying wins in the Northwest Conference Fall Classic into eventual NWC championships each of the past three years, the George Fox University women's golf team hopes for a similar result this year, starting with the 2012 Fall Classic this Saturday-Sunday, Oct. 27-28, at the Tri-Mountain Golf Course in Ridgefield, Wash.
Tee times both days are set for 8:30 a.m. with a shotgun start. The NWC Men's Fall Classic will be taking place at Tri-Mountain at the same time, with the men going off on the front nine and the women on the back nine on Saturday. The women's course will be played as a par-72 at a distance of 5,957 yards.
George Fox captured last year's Fall Classic with a score of 313-312=625 on the Heron Lakes Golf Course's Green Back links in Portland, Ore., 13 strokes ahead of Whitman College. The Bruins' Megan McGrew was the medalist with a six-over-par 74-76=150 on the par-72, 5,813-yard course as a freshman, but an arm injury that has sidelined her all fall will prevent her from defending her title.
Despite her absence, the Bruins still feature a strong lineup that has earned them a No. 5 ranking in the Golf World / National Golf Coaches Association NCAA Division III national poll. Seniors Kelsey Morrison (75.3 stroke average) and Abby Mann (79.4) and sophomore Loreece Magsanide (81.0) are ranked 1st, 17th, and 22nd respectively in that latest West Region statistics from GolfStat.com, and 2nd, 28th, and 49th in the nation. Morrison, a two-time All-American, has won three of the four tournaments the Bruins have played thus far, while Mann is coming off a round of 69 this past Tuesday in the Sonoma State Invitational, the second-lowest round in the country in Division III this fall.
Rounding out the Bruins' Fall Classic five for coach MaryJo McCloskey, who is in her seventh season at George Fox after starting the program in 2006, are freshman Kiana Lumanlan (81.9) and sophomore Whitney Jammerman (86.5).
As a team, the Bruins' 318.9 stroke average ranks No. 5 in the nation and second to the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor's 312.2 in the region.
The Fall Classic constitutes one quarter of the points total toward the overall conference championship, as does the NWC Spring Classic, with the NWC Championship Tournament later in the spring counting as one half of the total score.