Findlay golfers celebrate title
The University of Findlay women’s golf team held a local celebration on Friday in honor of their Division II national title.
Members of the team include Jill Schmitmeyer, a graduate of St. Marys, and Mary Kelly and Erin Mulcahy, who played for Lima Central Catholic.
The Oilers played in eight tournaments since the beginning of 2022 and took first place in each one, according to a news release on the school’s website.
According to the article, head coach Dominic Guarnieri, who is also from St. Marys, said “It’s unbelievable, To do what they did this spring, it will never happen again. Eight-for-eight. This is once in a lifetime.
Findlay made the final eight, and then entered a match play format. They defeated the top seed from Dallas Baptist University and then won over the fifth seed, Barry University (located in Miami, Fla.)
In the championship match, they faced Limestone University from Gaffney, S.C.
Schmitmeyer, a senior, made an eagle on the par-4 fifth hole. Kristina Kniesly, a fifthyear senior, Mary Kelly and Erin Mulcahy, both freshmen, and sophomore Gabby Woods rounded out the team’s lineup.
Schmitmeyer shot 69 to win her match by eight strokes. Kniesly closed out with two birdies for a score of 70 and a five-shot win.
After Limestone won the matches against Mary Kelly Mulcahy (74- to 77) and Gabby Woods (74 to 78), Erin Mulcahy was behind by three shots after nine holes.
She made a birdie on 10, par on 11 and a birdie on 15 to pull even. She made par of five on the 16th, while her opponent had a double bogey.
A par for Limestone’s Ebba Hellman and a bogey for Mulcahy made it a one-shot lead going to the final hole, a par-4.
Mulcahy hit her second shot into the bunker but recovered for bogey. Hellman had a four-foot putt to force a playoff, and missed it to clinch the title for Findlay.