BLUFFTON, Ohio - The Bluffton University women's golf team is coming off an outstanding 2023-24 season that saw the Beavers continue their upward climb with a fourth-place finish at the HCAC Championships. Records went down every weekend as the women averaged 84.42 for the season. Bluffton took apart the previous school marks for 18 holes and 36 holes and the Beavers obliterated the 54-hole record by over 80 strokes with a 980 at the HCAC Championships! The only Beaver gone to graduation is Shelby Stammen who needed just three years to secure her dentistry seat at the University of Michigan!
The cupboard is well stocked for Interim Head Coach Clay Quellhorst who took the reins in July. A pair of seniors have cemented their names in the history books for Bluffton University women's golf. Kiley Cline (Fostoria/Hopewell Louden) and Allie Waggener (Hilliard/Hilliard Bradley) are not only great players, but they have both been outstanding ambassadors for Bluffton University and its golf program.
Waggener started her junior year off right, winning the MSJ Stateline Shootout with a 155 which, at the time, established a new school record for the Bluffton women. She helped the Beavers to a 2nd place finish and was rewarded with the first of her two HCAC Player of the Week honors. Waggener averaged 82.78 for the season, giving her two years in the top four and three in the top 10 for individual scoring average. She is 2nd all-time with an 86.05 career average for 18 holes.
Cline continued adding to her illustrious resume with school records of 72 and 146 en route to her victory at the Kuhn Invite hosted by Allegheny College in late September. She capped off the tourney by earning the first of two HCAC Player of the Week awards during the 2023-24 campaign. Cline has no fewer the SIX Heartland Player of the Year honors in the past two seasons.
Jordan Hemmelgarn (Coldwater) hit the ground running, shooting a 159 in her third tournament as a collegian. She ripped a season-best 77 in the middle round of the HCAC Championships, finishing 15th with a 243 which is 2nd all-time for 54 holes! Her 85.87 scoring average for the year is 6th all-time at Bluffton.
Bluffton bolstered its lineup in January when Hope Manning (South Charleston/Southeastern) transferred in from Lake Erie College. Manning played in 11 rounds and never shot over an 89 on the way to an 85.09 scoring average for the season (5th all-time).
Alyssa Begoon (New Madison/Tri-Village) and Gabby Green (Beavercreek/Carroll) both gained valuable experience as freshman and they will be looking to earn playing time in 2024-25. Green fired an ace at the Bluffton Fall Invitational and she finished her inaugural season with a 96.23 average, while Begoon shot 98.50 as a freshman.
Back for their final seasons are Cheyanne Bolden (Sidney) and Isabel Miller (Dayton/Centerville). Miller spent the spring semester abroad in Spain.
The Bluffton women will tee it up at Olivet's Kyle Campbell Invite on September 6-7. Four weeks later, as part of the Homecoming Weekend festivities, the men and women will host the Beaver Fall Classic at Bluffton Golf Club on Saturday, Oct. 5, and Sunday, Oct. 6. The fall session comes to a close on October 12-13 when the Beavers head to Lexington's Kearney Hall Golf Club for the HCAC Preview, hosted by Transylvania University.
-BEAVERS-