FREMONT, Neb. -- The Dakota Wesleyan University women's golf team went into the third Great Plains Athletic Conference qualifier of the year Monday hoping to increase its lead over second place University of Sioux Falls.
The Tigers did better than increase their lead -- they nearly doubled it.
DWU won its third qualifier of the season with a team score of 350, 19 strokes ahead of Northwestern, which took second with a 369. In the process, the Tigers, who were ahead of USF in the conference standings by 30 strokes heading into Monday, increased their lead to 55 strokes at Fremont Golf Club in Fremont, Neb.
"We are happy with our results today and extending our lead, but we don't want to count our eggs before they hatch," said DWU graduate assistant coach Jenny Schneider. "Yes, we are happy that we've widened our lead as opposed to maybe giving a few strokes away."
After Dakota Wesleyan and Northwestern, the Cougars took third Monday with a 375, host-school Midland Lutheran was fourth with a 384 and Hastings College and Briar Cliff tied for fifth with 387s.
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"None of the teams have been able to get outside a whole lot in the spring," DWU head coach Adam Anderson said. "I think our practice indoors really paid off on a day like (Monday) where you could tell a lot of teams were rusty."
Individually, Hastings' Jenny Andrew took first with an 84. DWU's Kelli Baseley took second -- her third runner-up finish in as many GPAC qualifiers -- with an 86. Dani Bellet, Heather Love and Carly Hayes all tied for third with identical 88s and Kelly Daniels shot a 105.
"I think overall it was a struggle for everybody on the golf course," Schneider said. "It was mentally tough getting back into it because of the spring and not being able to be outside. Overall, (the girls) all learned something and they all have more to improve upon, and that's where we can go from."
Bellet, a freshman from Lead, leads the individual conference standings after the first three qualifiers. She has a three-round total of 243, which leaves her four strokes ahead of Baseley, who is in second with a 247. Love is in fifth in the individual conference standings with a 257.
Team-wise, DWU is ahead of second-place USF by 55 strokes heading into the fourth and final qualifier. Northwestern jumped from fifth place to third place in the GPAC after its second-place finish Monday, but the Tigers are still 78 strokes ahead of the Red Raiders.
Dakota Wesleyan has two more meets to play before the final GPAC qualifier Friday, April 24, at Northwestern College. The Tigers play Saturday at Dana College and Sunday at Concordia University. The meet at Concordia was originally scheduled for April 4, but was pushed back due to the weather.
"Being outside for this week and then playing those two tournaments back-to-back will test our stamina physically and mentally and will help us gear up for the last GPAC qualifier," Schneider said.
