CAIRO, Neb. — Dakota Wesleyan University freshman Allison Meyerink claimed the Great Plains Athletic Conference women’s golf individual title on Tuesday at Centura Hills Golf Course outside of Grand Island, Nebraska.
The Mitchell native won medalist honors by four shots with a final round 74 on Tuesday, capping a three-round score of 229 strokes. Meyerink shot 72 and 81 in two rounds on Monday and carried a one shot lead into Tuesday’s final round, eventually finishing ahead of Doane’s Connie Jarm
Meyerink is the first GPAC women’s golf champion for DWU since Lauren Fitts won the title in 2016. Her title secured an individual trip to the NAIA women’s golf national championships on May 13-16 in Ypsilanti, Michigan.
In the individual competition, Meyerink led the field by six shots after Round 1, shooting an even-par-72. That was a DWU-best round for the freshman, highlighted by birdies at the par-3 11th and par-four 18th. The rest of the field made up ground in the second round, as Meyerink shot 83 after a difficult final nine holes to close out Round 2.
On Tuesday, Meyerink settled in again, scoring par on eight of the first nine holes of the day, before posting a birdie at the par-5 10th hole. After bogeys at the 11th and 13th holes, Meyerink posted five pars coming back to the clubhouse to close out a 37 on the final nine and sealing the title.
As for the team championship, Doane claimed the GPAC team title by three shots in the 54-hole team competition, shooting 955 for a score. Dakota Wesleyan was second with 958, followed by Morningside at 971. It was DWU’s best GPAC team finish since winning the conference title in 2016.
After playing 36 holes on Monday, DWU and Doane were tied with gross scores of 644. DWU held a 12-shot lead, shooting 315 as a team after the first 18 holes before Doane answered with the second-best Round 2 of the day.
After Meyerink, DWU was led by Sara Sudenga and Ashton Austreim, who each shot three-day scores of 244 to tie for 12th place. Sudenga posted 85-81-78, while Austreim logged scores of 80-81-83. Kaylee Johnson finished 23rd for the Tigers (79-84-89—252), while Dakotah Larson scored an 84 in the first round Monday and a 79 on Tuesday and Kelsey Morrison played the tournament’s middle round, shooting 84.
Marcus Traxler is the assistant editor and sports editor for the Mitchell Republic. A past winner of the state’s Outstanding Young Journalist award and the 2023 South Dakota Sportswriter of the Year, he’s worked for the newspaper since 2014 and covers a wide variety of topics. A Minnesota native, Traxler can be reached at mtraxler@mitchellrepublic.com.
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