Women's Golf Championship Preview

Posted: Apr 21, 2023

The 2023 Centennial Conference women's golf championship will tee off on Saturday at Foxchase Golf Club. This will mark the third time the CC championship will take place at Foxchase (also in 2016 and 2017). The 36-hole event is set for Saturday-Sunday with tee times starting at 12:48 p.m. each day.

Marymount made it back-to-back Centennial crowns last spring with a score of 684 at Honeybrook Golf Club. The Saints overcame a five-shot first-round deficit to defeat second-lace Franklin & Marshall and Gettysburg by 17 strokes. Since joining the CC as an associate women's golf member in 2017-18, the Saints have now secured championship finishes of third (2018), second (2019) and first (2021-22).

Gettysburg leads the all-time Centennial title count with 10, followed by McDaniel (7), Marymount (2) and Muhlenberg (2).

A trio of All-Centennial performers are back in the field this spring, including reigning Player of the Year and two-time all-star Hunter Gillis of Marymount. Gillis carded a two-day total of 157 (80-77) at last year's championship, tying the third-best championship score in Centennial history, en route to Player of the Year honors. Gillis finished second at the 2021 championship, falling in a one-hole playoff to former teammate Isabel Trojillo.

Gettysburg's Mia Wilutis earned Rookie of the Year honors last spring after finishing in a tied for second place at the championship. Cabrini's Ashley Ea also returns as an all-conference honoree following a fifth-place showing in 2021.

Marymount, F&M and Gettysburg enter this weekend as the leading contenders to hoist the CC trophy. Marymount boasts the lowest team scoring average at 329.9 through 14 rounds. The Saints have won six of the nine events in which they competed throughout the year. Noelle Jensen boasts the lowest individual average in the conference at 78.1 and has won five individual titles. Defending champion Gillis also holds a sub-80 scoring average at 79.1, which ranks second in the CC, and has one individual title this year. Kate Parsons (83.0) and Peyton Kraras (86.7) also maintain sub-90 averages for the Saints entering this weekend.

F&M ranks second in team scoring average at 349.4, narrowly ahead of Gettysburg (351.5). Reilly Melvin leads the Diplomats with an 82.7 average through seven rounds while Caroline Kurtt leads the Bullets at 84.6 through eight rounds. Melvin has won a trio of tournaments this season. F&M's Janire Vela (86.7) and Bryn Fitchett (87.8) and Gettysburg's Ava Nicole Markunas (87.0) and Abby McMonagle (88.6) also own sub-90 averages.

Cabrini's Ashley Ea holds an 85.1 scoring average entering the championship, which ranks sixth in the Centennial. Other individual scoring leaders for their respective teams include Ursinus' Kaylin Chen (92.1), McDaniel's Abby Wesche (96.0), Dickinson's Mia Henry (96.5), and Muhlenberg's Nya Johnson (97.1).

This weekend's team champion will earn the Centennial Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, set for May 9-12 at Missin Inn Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.