Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology was crowned the 2019 Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) Women’s Golf Champions on Sunday. The meet took place at the Bluffton Golf Club.

This is the first time the Fightin’ Engineers have won the championship, punching their ticket to the 2020 NCAA Division III Women’s Golf Championship. 

Rose-Hulman was dominant in claiming the title in the two-day championship, turning in a team score of 660, 39 strokes ahead of the nearest competition.

The reigning champions, Transylvania University placed second with a score of 699, with Manchester University using a late charge to take third with a score of 706. Franklin College and Hanover College each carded team scores of 708 to finish in a tie for fourth, while Mount St. Joseph University (716) placed sixth, Earlham College (739) took seventh, hosts Bluffton University (789) placed eighth and Anderson University (921) finished in ninth. Defiance College had two golfers compete as individuals in the championship. 

Claiming medalist honors and the Most Valuable Player was Namuunaa Nadmid of Rose-Hulman, who’s two-day total of 159 was five strokes ahead of her competition. The Fightin’ Engineers were bolstered to the win by their strong individual finishes, with Lauren Conley finishing in a tie for second with 164, Rachel Zhang taking fourth (168) and Caitlin Coverstone (169) finishing fifth. 

Maci French also carded a 164 to tie for second overall, while teammate Gabi Sharp turned in a 170 for sixth place.  There was a three-way tie for seventh place, with Taylor Erfman (Manchester) Hayley Quatman (Mount St. Jospeh) and Lexie Lamar (Transylvania) all finishing with scores of 172. Transy’s Rachel Fine rounded out the top-ten and All-Conference honors list with a 173 for 10th place. 

In addition to the All-Conference Team, honors were awarded to Kevin Robinson of Rose-Hulman for Coach of the Year and to Grace Chilton from Transy (179) was awarded the Freshman of the Year.