The North Central Missouri College Men's and Women's golf team closed out their Fall tournament schedule at the State Fair Roadrunner Invitational hosted by State Fair Community College. The tournament held at Sedalia Country Club consisted of some NJCAA Region 16 competition for the Pirates and a couple of NAIA schools in Columbia College and William Woods University. At the conclusion of the 36-hole event the Pirate men finished in 8th place out of 9 teams posting a team total of 655. They shot an opening round of 331 on Monday to sit in 7th after Day one but got jumped by Crowder College in round two after improving their score by 7 shots for a tally of 324. On the Women's side only three teams in the tournament field with NCMC finishing 3rd behind Columbia College and William Woods. The Pirate women also improved their Tuesday scoring by five shots to get to their total of 821. "Huge thanks to Wayne Ogle at State Fair for putting together a great event with some really competitive field for us to close out our Fall. SCC was in great shape even with the chilly temperatures. I am extremely proud of everyone in this program for what they showed me throughout the Fall. For the ones specifically who played on Monday and Tuesday I was happy with the mindset and game plan they had with the extreme cold conditions. It was one of those mentally exhausting tournaments for us but it was also great to get a little preview of what we will see within our Region next Spring.
On the men's side Kyle Steel was the Pirate low placing in T17th after an opening round 76 and final round 78. "Kyle was very steady for us all Fall but he will be the first to tell me that shots were left on the golf course. That is always promising to hear as we transition into our winter workouts. If he can put in the work this off season I really expect him to have a great Spring." Mason Moncrief finished in T29th after a 36-hole score of 161. "Really happy with Mason this Fall after taking a semester off. He put in the work since early August and wanted to prove a point that he deserves a spot on our roster. Very happy with that and I expect that work ethic from all of the sophomores this coming Spring. They are the leaders of this team and the sky is the limit with all of them including Cam and Austin. At the end of the day though we had three Region 16 teams beat us at the event so that already tells you that we have more work to do. This team is good enough to compete with all of them and it is time for the guys to start believing that and raise their self-worth a little bit. This is a really good group we have this year and we will come back and be ready in the Spring." Other individual scores for the Pirates at the event were Jaron McClaran (+24), Luke Lopes (+38), and Cam Bates (+45).
On the Women's side at the event ReaLee Smith led the Pirates placing in 14th after a two-day total of 201. "I was extremely proud of ReaLee this Fall coming in as a Freshman with a new environment and playing some solid golf. I will continue to say this but it Is also promising because she will be the first to tell anybody that she left a lot of strokes on the course this Fall. She battled a back injury throughout the Fall so she will handle that treatment and I expect her to have solid Spring Season", said Coach Swann.
Other individual scores at State Fair were Haley Baskett (+62), Kennedy Dickerson (+63), Lexi Hutton (+75), and Brianna Filley (+83).
"All of the girls had a really good Fall and should be proud of their effort but not stay content just yet. We have an opportunity to win NJCAA Region 16 again and I think all of the girls want to be a part of that so we will continue to get better this offseason. If Haley can consistently hit fairways off the tee she will surprise a lot of people and will have an impressive Spring. I was also happy with Kennedy and what she brought to this program as a Freshman. We will get her in the weight room this Winter and hopefully get some more distance off the tee but I was really impressed with her consistency tee to green and not taking herself out of the hole with penalty shots. Lexi is still working on a few things with short game and her driver but I like where her game is at but there is still work to do. She will work on all of those areas and I expect her to have a solid on course attitude this Spring." I'm really proud of Brianna as a new face of the game of golf and sticking with it and also having the want to improve in all areas. Her attitude is great and she will continue to go through the process which will allow her scoring to improve this Spring."