It was all smiles for Kent State women’s golf yesterday when they won their 18th consecutive Mid-American Conference championship in Noblesville, Indiana. No other team has accomplished this feat, making it a MAC record.

Senior Taylor Kim was awarded the distinguished Golfer of the Year award for her hard work the past year.

“It’s a real confidence booster,” Kim said, “and it’ll carry through to regionals beginning in May. Winning again gives us a good shot at winning regionals this year.”

The team went into the final round leading the Toledo Rockets by three strokes and beat them by one stroke in the third round.

“It came down to a couple shots here and there,” head coach Greg Robertson said, “and we made the birdies we needed in the end. We played solid the last two rounds and it was close with them. Toledo is great and we did just enough to pull through.”

For some players, it was their last MAC championship and a first for others.

We had a great year together,” freshman Michaela Finn said. “It was my first year here and winning a championship is amazing. We played great and our hard work all season finally paid off.”

Assistant coach Maddi Swaney was able to see her team win yet another title. Swaney helped her team win four MAC championships.

“It goes to show the amount of support the team has,” Swaney said, “and from the university. As an alumna, it’s great to see the team succeeding still. There was great effort from Toledo for keeping us on our toes through the day.”

The team dominated the driving game and finished four over par overall. Junior Wad Phaewchimplee lead the team with a fourth place finish and shooting one over for the event.

Senior Amira Alexander ended her round one under giving her sixth place individually. Finn and senior Josee Doyon tied for seventh by shooting two over par. Kim placed 15th with a nine over par finish.

Doyon, Phaewchimplee and Kim all made the 2016 MAC Women’s Golf All-MAC First Team. Phawechimplee was the only golfer make the 2016 MAC Women’s Golf All-Tournament Team.

This year’s MAC championships may be over, but the team knows there’s still more work to do on the course.

“It’s been an incredible season,” senior Josee Doyon said, “and we were close to Toledo all weekend. Ending this weekend with another championship is amazing, but we’re not done. We still have regionals coming up soon.”

The team will find out the location for regionals Monday evening. Regionals will being Thursday May 5 and will go into Saturday May 7.

“Our players, with three seniors, have gone through a lot this season,” Roberston said. For now, the team will take off a couple of days for school work, but then it’s back to business on Wednesday.

Eric is the sports reporter for The Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].