Braun's Strong Finish Leads To WIAC Title
UW-Oshkosh's Hannah Braun recorded a final 18-hole round of 74 strokes to overcome a four-shot deficit and win the individual title at the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Golf Championship (Presented by Culver's) held Friday through Sunday (Oct. 5-7) at the Reedsburg Country Club in Reedsburg.
Braun, who ranked third after counting 77 strokes during each of the first two days of competition, marked the lowest score of the tournament on Sunday to complete the 54-hole event with 228 overall shots (12-over-par).
Braun achieved her winning score with the help of four birdies and a championship-best 36 pars. She averaged 3.33 shots on par 3 holes, a tournament-low 4.27 on par 4 holes and an even 5.00 on par 5 holes.
Braun, who finished 10th at the championship in 2017 and seventh in 2016, became UW-Oshkosh's fourth WIAC champion. Previous Titans to capture the individual league crown were Markka Farrington in 2000, Cheryl Treadwell in 2002 and McKenzie Paul in 2015.
UW-Oshkosh had two other golfers finish in the top seven as sisters Kayla Priebe and Erika Priebe placed sixth with 236 strokes and seventh with 238, respectively.
Kayla Priebe posted daily results of 77, 79 and 80. She concluded the tournament with 34 pars while averaging 3.50 shots on par 3 holes, 4.40 on par 4 holes and 5.17 on par 5 holes. Priebe finished third last year and second in both 2015 and 2016.
Erika Priebe, a freshman, had daily scores of 83, 79 and 76. She ended the event with a championship-best seven birdies and averages of 3.08 shots on par 3 holes, 4.63 on par 4 holes and 5.17 on par 5 holes.
Ashley Hofmeister of UW-Whitewater, the 2016 WIAC champion, finished second to Braun in this year's individual competition with 229 strokes while Trystin Kluess of UW-Stout placed third with 230, defending champion CheyAnn Knudsen of UW-Whitewater fourth with 233 and Allison Chomniak of UW-Eau Claire fifth with 235.
Hofmeister entered Sunday's round in first place with 150 strokes and Kluess second with 151. Braun rallied past both players as each tallied 79 strokes during the final 18 holes.
UW-Whitewater successfully defended its team title to earn the WIAC's automatic berth to the 2019 NCAA Division III Championship that will be held May 14-17 in Houston, Texas.
The Warhawks won the title with 942 strokes (78-over-par), registering 315 shots during the first and third rounds and a tournament-low 312 in the second.
UW-Stout, the 2016 champion, finished second in the eight-team meet with 954 strokes while 2015 champion UW-Oshkosh followed in third place with 960 and UW-River Falls in fourth with 1,003. The Titans accumulated their overall score with daily figures of 321 on the first and second day of play and 318 on the third.
Completing the team standings were fifth-place UW-Eau Claire with 1,109 strokes, sixth-place UW-Stevens Point with 1,069, seventh-place UW-La Crosse with 1,081 and eighth-place UW-Platteville with 1,086.
UW-Oshkosh had six other golfers compete in th 61-player championship, including Hanna Rebholz who finished 19th with 251 strokes, Margherite Pettenuzzo who placed 26th with 258 and Keara Richards who ranked 28th with 260. Richards led the trio with three birdies while Rebholz paced the group with 25 pars.
Other UW-Oshkosh individual results had Ireland Dunne finish 34th with 266 strokes, Dianna Scheibe 37th with 268 and Sophia Mazurek 44th with 277.
UW-Oshkosh's next competition for the 2018-19 season will be in April.