VIENNA, Ohio (pacathletics.org) - Westminster College shot the lowest scores in both rounds of the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Fall Golf Championships and will take a six-stroke advantage into the spring championships next April.
The 36-hole fall event was hosted by the Avalon Golf & Country Club in Warren, Ohio. The women played two rounds at Avalon at Squaw Creek in Vienna.
This year's PAC Championships features a 72-hole stroke play event, beginning with 36 holes played this fall and another 36 holes played Friday-Saturday, April 25-26, 2025 at Mill Creek Metroparks and the Mill Creek Golf Course in Boardman, Ohio. The women will play two rounds on the North Course, while the men will play a pair of rounds on the South Course.
The six-time defending PAC champion Titans opened defense of their title by shooting 338 in Monday's opening round to hold a four-stroke lead on Washington & Jefferson College. In Tuesday's second round, Westminster again had the low round, shooting 339 to compile a fall score of +93, 677, while the Presidents totaled 341 in the second round and are six shots back at +99, 683.
In third place following the fall rounds is Allegheny College at 732 (364-368), while Thiel College jumped two spots following Monday's round to move into fourth place with 755 (386-369). In fifth place is Geneva College at 755 (382-395), followed by Grove City College in sixth place with 780 (384-396), Franciscan University in seventh at 829 (421-408), Saint Vincent College in eighth with 833 (419-414) and Waynesburg University at 1030 (527-503). Bethany College had two individuals compete in the fall rounds as well.
The 2024 PAC Fall Medalist following the opening two rounds was W&J sophomore Julia Barthelemy (Crescent, Pa./Moon Area), who was tied for third following Monday's 18 holes after shooting 83. She completed her climb to the top spot with a great final hole Tuesday, hitting her tee shot on the par-3, 132-yard 18th inside 10 feet and then sinking the birdie putt for the round's low score of 80 and a two-day total of 163.
Barthelemy is the first W&J golfer to be in the top spot on the Fall leaderboard since Kaitlyn Vogel in the fall of 2017.
It is a crowded leaderboard close behind Barthelemy, with three players within four shots of the lead. A pair of Westminster players are the closest in sophomore Katie Rose Rankin (Sewickley, Pa./North Allegheny) and freshman Kaitlyn Hoover (New Wilmington, Pa./Wilmington). Both are at 165 after Rankin went 81-84 in the fall rounds and Hoover carded 80 for the low round Monday and then shot 85. Four strokes off the lead is W&J junior Megan Joyce (Uniontown, Pa./Laurel Highlands), who sits at 167 (85-82).
The All-PAC teams, along with the PAC Players of the Year and PAC Newcomers of the Year, are determined by the combined 72-hole scores from the fall and spring championships. The All-PAC teams are made up of the top 15 overall scorers (5 first team, 5 second team, 5 honorable mention).
The combined 72-hole team totals determine PAC team champions and winners of the league's automatic-qualifying bids to the NCAA Division III Championships.
Team selections for the Division III Women's Championships will be announced Monday, May 5, 2025. The Division III Women's Championships are scheduled for May 13-16 at Bay Oak Country Club in Houston, Texas.