By JACOB WOERTHER
Sports Editor

(WARRENSBURG, Mo., digitalBURG) — Jennies golf shot 52-over par 632 to earn seventh place at the NCAA Central Region Spring Preview April 10-11 in Springfield, Missouri.

PHOTO BY UCM Photo Services
Taelyn Entriken finished
8th at the Upper Iowa Invite and tied for 17th at the Central Region Spring Preview.

The Jennies competed against 21 other teams at the two-day tournament, including the top 12 teams from the region.

Head coach Chris Port noted prior to the event that the tournament was an opportunity for the Jennies to out-preform several top-10 teams in the region and build some confidence before heading into the NCAA Super Regional late this season. Port, however, made it clear that the Jennies must avoid mistakes if they wish to do so.

“We’re a good team, but not a team that can afford to make a lot of costly mistakes,” Port said. “We’ve described it as playing clean and making minimal mistakes.”

The Jennies heeded Port’s advice and began the tournament on a “clean” note, ending the first day in fourth place with a team score of 316.

The problem arose on the second day of the tournament when the Jens failed to improve their performance in the manner that their competition did. As a team, the Jennies mirrored their performance from the previous day and shot 316 again.

Although the Jennies failed to improve on the second day, their score earned them seventh place in the tournament and put them atop some of their Central Region competition as Port hoped. The Jennies placed better than four of the 11 teams that currently rank higher in the Division II Central Region Rankings.

Taelyn Etriken, Olivia Sobaski and Kelly Welker each shot 12-over par 156 and tied for 17th place among individuals.

With the Central Region Spring Preview behind them, Jennies golf move on to the MIAA Championships April 24 and 25 in Kansas City, Missouri.