Lady Rangers grab 3rd at national tourney
The Ranger College women's golf team made history on Thursday by powering its way to a bronze medal finish at the 2021 NJCAA Women's Division I Golf National Championships om Ormond Beach, Fla. Overall, Ranger College earned the third-place honors at the tournament, which was held May 10-13 at Plantation Bay Golf and Country Club.
The meet featured the top 20 2-year golf programs in the country.
"The young ladies persevered, playing through adverse weather conditions ranging from 91-degree temperatures with 67 percent humidity to drenching rain showers," said RC Athletic Director Stan Feaster. "We couldn't be more proud of their accomplishment."
The Lady Rangers got off to a slow start, playing their way to fourth in the opening round of play on Monday. Despite uncooperative weather, the RC squad fought its way back. In Round 2, they outdueled Tyler Junior College and Iowa Western and moved into third in the team standings.
Round 3 proved to be the most challenging. Long delays caused by lightning forced tournament officials to spread the normal 18-hole, 4 ½-hour round over two days, with athletes playing at intervals of nine, three, and six holes. Golfers were also forced to rise at 4:30 a.m. to prepare for the 6:30 a.m. warm-up time.
Despite the hardships, the Lady Rangers held their ground. They held onto third in the standings in both of the final two rounds and finished 32 strokes ahead of Tyler and Iowa Western in the final standings.
Seminole State College captured the national team title, finishing 45 strokes ahead of
Daytona State College.
Noppasom Far-arun paced Ranger through the tournament. After recovering from a rough opening round, she rallied to finish fourth in the individual medalist standings with a total of 307. Far-arun completed the tournament just 24 strokes behind Seminole State's Minori Nagano, who won the individual national title with a mark of 283.
Jirasuda Khunarak also played her way to a top 10 finish despite the weather. The freshman star turned in a final mark of 313 and finished in a tie for ninth-place with Iowa Western's Luisa Gibson.
Sophomore Maria Sierra Sanz also did well. She placed 13th overall with a score of 317.
Far-arun and Khunarak, by virtue of their top 10 finishes, were both selected to the 2021 all-tournament team and earned All-American honors. Sanz, who has signed to play next fall at Angelo State University in San Angelo, was named to the honorable mention All-American squad.
Kayla Paulsen and Taylor Hodges also played well in Florida. Paulsen shot a score of 373 and finished 54th in the individual standings. Hodges, a freshman from Eastland, carded a 382 and finished 58th.
En route to posting the highest finish at the national tournament by any RC golf team, the Lady Rangers became the second program this year to walk away with hardware from a national meet. The RC Lady Rangers' cross country team won the 2020 national title in December.