MANSFIELD, Ohio— Wittenberg women's golf took second place at the 2018 NCAC Championships after firing a 54 hole score of 982 as a team. The Tigers (+94) finished eight strokes back of the eventual tournament champions DePauw (+86) after trailing the Tigers by a stroke heading into Sunday's final round. While Wittenberg finished second in the team standings, the Tigers managed to see senior Jane Hopkinson-Wood (+2) claim medalist honors by eight strokes after carding rounds of 72-72-80.
Wittenberg's second place finish also featured two other top-ten finishes, as Madi Wolters and Brianna Yee each finished the three-round tournament tied for eighth (+27. Wolters' best round came on Friday with an 80, as Yee carded low rounds of 81 on Saturday and Sunday.
Devon Atchison and Kelli Fisher both finished T12 after finishing +41 on the weekend. Atchison's best round came on Friday with an 85 on her way to a 263 thee-day score, while Fisher fired an 84 on Friday.
Hopkinson-Wood's NCAC Medalist Honor brings her grand-total to 15 in her incredible Tiger career, as Wittenberg did everything they could to hunt down #9 DePauw on the final day of competition. Hopkinson-Wood also earned NCAC Player of the Year honors after putting together a senior season for the ages in Springfield. At the conference level, Hopkinson-Wood most recently earned her 20th NCAC Player of the Week Honors.
The Tigers now await the 2018 NCAA Championships at the Mission Inn Resort in Howey-In-The-Hills, Florida. The Championship is set for May 8-11.
The Wittenberg Tigers, who are under the leadership of first-year head coach Michael Leotta, entered the 2018 NCAC Golf Championships ranked 16th in the nation in the most recent GolfStat Top-25, while the DePauw Tigers are ninth in the country in the same rankings. Wittenberg won two team events this season, winning its own Pat Clouse Invitational in early October, before capturing the team title earlier this spring at OWU's Laura Bump Invitational. Wittenberg senior Jane Hopkinson-Wood has once again led the charge for her squad this season with five total individual titles, winning medalist honors at Denison's Lynn Schweizer Invitational, DePauw's Dan Quayle Collegiate Classic, Wittenberg's own Pat Clouse Invitational, the NCAC Fall Preview event at Westbrook C.C. and finally earning the top prize at OWU's Laura Bump Invitational this spring. Hopkinson-Wood, who won the NCAC's individual championship in 2016, is also one of the top Div. III players in the country this season as she ranks third overall in the GolfStat individual rankings with an adjusted scoring average of 73.49. Hopkinson-Wood finished second overall in 2017 with a 229