UW-Stevens Point Captures Women’s Golf Championship

Watertown, Wis.--For the first time since the 1997 season, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point claimed the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) women’s golf title following the two-day, 36-hole championship that was held at Windwood of Watertown.

UW-Stevens Point posted a two-day total of 656 to easily outdistance second-place UW-Oshkosh (687).   UW-Whitewater finished third (690), three-time defending champion UW-Eau Claire placed fourth (696), UW-Platteville finished fifth (708), UW-Superior was sixth (717) and UW-Stout placed seventh (725).

With the victory, the Pointers earned an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Championship, which will be held May 13-16, 2008 at Centennial Oaks Golf Club in Waverly, Iowa.  It will mark the first NCAA appearance by the team in program history.

Individually, UW-Eau Claire’s Meghan Sobotta secured medalist honors with a 36-hole total of 159 on the par 72, 5,848-yard layout to surpass UW-Stevens Point’s Jessica Urban and Michelle Pascavis (160).  Sobotta trailed Pascavis by three strokes (80-77) entering the final day of competition and scored a 79 in the final round, while Pascavis finished with an 83 for the one stroke difference.  Urban recorded a 82 during the opening round and followed with a 78 on Sunday.

Sobotta’s victory marked the fifth straight year that an individual from UW-Eau Claire captured medalist honors.  Susan Karlman won the event in 2003, Maggie Loney earned titles in 2004 and 2005 and Torie Ives was last year’s winner.

UW-Stevens Point’s Amy Stiloski placed fourth with a 164, while UW-Superior’s Macie Anderson finished fifth with a 165 and UW-Stout’s Molly Loney was sixth with 167.  Anderson’s fifth-place finish was the best in program history at a WIAC championship.

UW-Eau Claire’s Torie Ives, UW-Platteville’s Michelle Ebert and UW-Stevens Point’s Amanda Dlugopolski tied for seventh with 168, while UW-Oshkosh’s Danielle Vanderhill and UW-Whitewater’s Emily Kuiper tied for 10th with 169. 

UW-Stevens Point head coach Matt Interbartolo was voted the Coach of the Year for the second straight season, while UW-Eau Claire’s Sarah Hansen received the Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete Award.