MAYETTA, Kan. – Missouri Western Women’s Golf has now played through the second of three rounds at the MIAA Women’s Golf Championships. Shi Qing Ong has climbed into first place with her tournament-best score of 71 (-1) in the second round. The Griffons slid to fifth in the team standings, but remain just three strokes back of third place.

Missouri Western posted the exact same team score as it did in the first round, finishing at 313 for a two-round total of 626. Nebraska Kearney and Central Oklahoma each managed to jump the Griffons in the team standings, as both squads improved off of their first-round marks by over 10 strokes. The Griffons are still within reach of a top-three finish, trailing Nebraska Kearney by just three strokes for third place.

Shi Qing Ong entered Tuesday in a tie for fourth place after her 74 (+2) in the opening round. After her score of 71 (-1) in the second, Ong now sits atop the individual leaderboard with a combined score of 145 (+1). Her second-round score is the best of any completed round at the event. She has also scored the most birdies of anyone in the field, and has been thriving on the lower-par holes. She leads the field in par-three scoring, going two-under on those holes. Ong appears to be in the midst of a three-player competition for the title, as she will aim to outlast Rosie Klausner (146) and Olivia Sobaski (147), both from Central Missouri.

Anna Bech remains tied for 16th with her 77 (+5) on Tuesday. Bech improved three strokes from yesterday’s first round and currently has a total score of 157 heading into Wednesday. She has the second-most birdies at the tournament with eight.

Jenna Kosmatka shot an 82 (+10) to bring her score to 163 and sit tied for 26th. One stroke behind Kosmatka is Chong Yong. Yong scored an 83 (+11) on Tuesday after her 81 (+9) in the first round.

Katie Irvin finished Tuesday’s second round with an 88 (+16) after her 78 (+6) in the opening round.

The Griffons will begin the third and final round of the MIAA Women’s Golf Championships beginning at 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday.

— MWSU Athletics —

MONKEY ISLAND, Okla. – After the first two rounds of the MIAA Men’s Golf Championships at Shangri-La Country Club, the Missouri Western men’s golf squad is in seventh place with a score of 597. Leading the Griffons on Tuesday was Tom Buffington, who sits tied for 15th entering the third and final round.

After scoring a 303 in the first round, the Griffons improved by nine strokes for a second-round score of 294. Directly ahead of Missouri Western and in sixth place is Missouri Southern with at 586. Lindenwood is the current leader of the tournament, and will look to continue to fend off Northeastern State and Washburn for the top spot.

Tom Buffington ended the first two rounds as the top score for Missouri Western with a 147. Buffington opened the tournament with a 76 (+4) in the first, but improved in the second round with a score of 71 (-1). Buffington’s second round was the best single-round score of any Missouri Western golfer on Tuesday. His 28 pars are also the second-most in the field at the championship.

Lucas Horseman is tied for 27th after a two-round total of 150. His best round came in the first when he shot just one-over with a 73.

Patrick McCarthy’s score of 151 on Tuesday lands him in a tie for 29th. After a 78 (+6) in the first round, McCarthy bounced back with a 73 (+1) in the second. He also led the team with seven birdies.

Jake Mikesch finished with a score of 156 while Cole Roberts wrapped up Monday with a 159.

Missouri Western will tee off the final round of the MIAA Men’s Golf Championships on Wednesday at 8:30 a.m.

— MWSU Athletics —

ST. JOSEPH – Griffon Baseball has added a non-conference game against Emporia State to its home schedule this week.

Missouri Western will host the Hornets in a single non-conference game, Wednesday, April 24 at 4 p.m.

Mother Nature wreaked havoc on the Griffons’ early season schedule, particularly at the Spring Sports Complex. So far, MWSU has played just nine of its 35 games at the Spring Sports Complex and the Griffons played as the guest in one third of those.

To help compensate for the cancellation of seven home games and a change in venue of six other home games, Missouri Western has now added three non-conference games to the final two weeks of the regular season. In addition to Wednesday’s game with Emporia State, the Griffons will host Illinois-Springfield in a doubleheader on Tuesday, April 30.

Missouri Western is 18-17 overall and 15-12 in MIAA play. Emporia State (24-16, 17-10) took two out of three from MWSU in the teams’ MIAA series in Emporia, Kansas earlier this month. With two conference series remaining, the Griffons are in a three-way tie for fifth place in the MIAA standings with Pittsburg State and Lindenwood.

The Griffons are set to host Southwest Baptist in a three-game MIAA series beginning on Friday. MWSU is now scheduled to play its final nine regular season games at home.

— MWSU Athletics —

MAYETTA, Kan. – Missouri Western Women’s Golf sits in third place after the opening round of the MIAA Women’s Golf Championships at Firekeeper Golf Course Monday. Both Shi Qing Ong and Katie Irvin are positioned inside the top-10 to lead the Griffons after the first round.

The MIAA Women’s Golf Championships features three rounds spread across three-consecutive days. Missouri Western put together a solid team performance to open the tournament, finishing with a combined score of 313. The Griffons trail Central Missouri by nine strokes for second place. Northeastern State is the current leader after scoring a 300 on Monday.

Near the top of the individual leaderboard was Shi Qing Ong in a tie for fourth. The 2018-19 MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Year finished the first 18 holes of the tournament with a 74 (+2). Ong led the field of 49 golfers with five birdies in the round. She is currently three strokes back of Central Missouri’s Rosie Klausner for the top spot heading into the second round.

Katie Irvin played one of the best single rounds of her season, finishing Monday with a score of 78 (+6) to land inside the top-10 in a tie for ninth. Her consistent first round included two birdies and 10 pars. She also had one of the top scores on par-four scoring, going two-over on those holes.

Anna Bech is currently in a tie for 16th after her 80 (+8) in the first round. Bech was second on the team with three birdies.

Chong Yong and Jenna Kosmatka are both tied for 20th after first-round scores of 81 (+9). Kosmatka led the team with 11 pars on Monday.

— MWSU Athletics —

KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The MIAA released the 2018-19 All-MIAA Women’s Golf Awards on Sunday afternoon, naming Shi Qing Ong the MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Year. Ong and Chong Yong were also tabbed to the All-MIAA teams.

Ong receives her second-consecutive MIAA Golfer of the Year Award after a remarkable senior season. Her spring season included a historic stretch of four-consecutive event wins, claiming the top spot at the Warrior Invitational, Holiday Inn Express Classic, Jennies Golf Invitational, and HSU Spring Invite. Competitors were unable to keep up with Ong during the streak, as she won three of those events by a convincing five or more strokes.

Ong’s final season at Missouri Western also included three-straight MIAA Women’s Golfer of the Week awards. She even took second place in two of the four tournaments in which she did not win. With an average round score of 74, Ong’s single-round scores were as low as 67 (career-low), 69, and 70. She wraps up her historic four-year career with 13 wins in 43 appearances and was named First Team All-MIAA in each of her seasons at Missouri Western.

Chong Yong received Second Team All-MIAA honors after her junior season. Yong notched three top-10 finishes, including tying for fourth place at the Warrior Invitational in Las Vegas to open up the spring season. Yong still placed inside the top-25 in three of her other eight tournament appearances.

She finished the regular season with an average round score of below 79. Her season-low round came at the Griffons’ last event when she scored a 73 at the Central Region Preview on her way to finish in a tie for ninth place.

Yong has now been named All-MIAA in each of her three seasons at Missouri Western.

Missouri Western takes part in the MIAA Women’s Golf Championships April 23-25 at Firekeeper Golf Course in Mayetta, Kansas.

2018-19 All-MIAA Women’s Golf Awards and Teams 
Player of the Year: Shi Qing Ong – Missouri Western
Freshman of the Year: Rosie Klauser – Central Missouri
Coach of the Year: Chris Port – Central Missouri

First-Team All-MIAA
Olivia Sobaski – Central Missouri
Sydney Roberts – Central Oklahoma
Hannah Perkins – Fort Hays State
Shi Qing Ong – Missouri Western
Ebba Moberg – Northeastern State
Aitana Hernandez – Northeastern State
Reflects Tie In Voting

Second-Team All-MIAA
Rosie Klausner – Central Missouri
Madison O’Dell – Central Oklahoma
Josefina Haupt – Lindenwood
Chong Yong – Missouri Western
Nia Station – Nebraska Kearney
Lexi Armon – Northeastern State
Reflects Tie In Voting

All-MIAA Honorable Mention
Central Oklahoma – Makena Mucciaccio, Faith Stewart
Lindenwood – Natalie Long, Dakota Limkemann
Nebraska Kearney – Danielle Dickerson
Northeastern State – Kelsey Lumpkin
Northwest Missouri – Morgan Thiele

— MWSU Athletics —

PITTSBURG, Kan. – Free passes led directly or indirectly to six Pittsburg State (22-18, 14-12) runs in a 7-6 loss for the Missouri Western baseball team (18-16, 15-11) on Friday.

Four of the Gorillas’ seven runs were earned and the home team’s first two runs both walked to get on base. The loss snapped a string of four-straight wins for Missouri Western.

NOTABLES

• Andrew Curry put the Griffs up 2-0 with a two-run home run in the first inning
• Two walks and a single that scored both runners tied the game for Pitt State in the home half of the first
• The Griffs went up 4-2 in the third on a two-RBI single from Wyatt Meyer
• A sacrifice fly in the fifth gave Pitt State its third run, but would have been the third out were it not for an error earlier in the inning
• Another error and a passed ball aided a four-run eighth inning for Pittsburg State that gave the Gorillas their first lead and enough cushion to snap MWSU’s win streak
• Missouri Western was charged with four errors in the game
• Meyer had three hits and two RBIs
• Curry had a pair of hits and two RBIs

UP NEXT

• The rubber match in the series comes at noon on Saturday in Pittsburg.

— MWSU Athletics —