Official Championship Page
INDIANAPOLIS – It was a special day for Trevecca Nazarene and senior Alexa Rippy during the final round of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference Women’s Golf Championship on Tuesday at Four Bridges Country Club.
The Trojans (322-324--646) won their fifth consecutive conference team title and Rippy became a three-time winner of first-place medalist honors. Trevecca Nazarene distanced itself from runner-up Malone (348-336--684) as the Pioneers placed two in the top 10 in their first conference tourney as a league member.
TNU’s spring dominance on the links suggests a dynasty having rounded into the form after combined with the men, the program now has 10 total conference golf trophies in 10 attempts.
Rippy, from Clarksville, Tenn., won her fifth individual title of the current season and dropped her league-leading scoring average to 75.22. In her own words – she was in tears multiple times throughout the day, but they were tears from a combination of elation and emotion.
“I think it’s just the competing,” she said. “I’m going to miss it a lot.”
With Rippy tearing up again on the 18th green, TNU head coach David Head echoed the same kind of sentiments standing right next to her side.
“I want to say how much I think of this young lady as a person,” he said. “She’s a great golfer and a great champion and she’s an even better person off the golf course. I can’t tell you how proud I am of her and she’s got big things ahead of her.”
By her standard of play, the colors on Rippy’s scorecard suggested it was a semi-adventurous day on the course, but she was able to right the ship and carded a stable 74 (+2). Rippy posted four birdies vs. six bogeys after starting with bogeys on No. 17 and 18, her first two holes of the day.
“I was going all over the place,” she said with laugh afterwards. “I was birdying, I was bogeying, but overall, I feel happy with the way I played today.”
Rippy was locked into a duel with teammate Rachael McMahan as both shared the lead going into the final round. Both are intense competitors and didn’t want to give up any ground to determine who would finish first in the individual standings.
In the end though, the veteran savvy of Rippy (73-74--147) prevailed over youth as McMahan looks to help headline to emerging wave of talent with Lexie Shaw, Teagan Perry and Brynn Craven, for the women’s program.
A total of five student-athletes were honored as Great Midwest all-conference selections by virtue of their finish. The remaining five and individual awards of coach, player and freshman of the year, is determined by a coaches vote.
The top five finishers (including ties) qualify for the all-conference team. Rippy was joined by her TNU teammates McMahan and Shaw, who finished second and third in the field. Malone’s Melanie Smith and Ohio Valley’s Lauren Reid each recorded two-day totals of 166 to tie for fourth.