Season Review: Women's Golf ends fourth at OAC Championships, caps third winning season in last four years during 2018-19 campaign
By Blake Moore
ADA — The Ohio Northern women's golf program captured its third winning season in the past four years and brought home a fourth-place finish at the 2019 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships during the 2018-19 season under sixth-year head coach Chad Bucci.
This season, the Polar Bears posted their sixth consecutive season with 25-or-more victories with a 28-17 mark. ONU capped the campaign with a fourth-place effort at the eight-team OAC Championships, shooting a 352-357-356—1065 team total at River Greens Golf Course in West Lafayette.
During the conference-wide event, senior Caitlin Silva (Hilliard/Bradley) and sophomore Lydia Cranmer (Farmington Hills, Mich./Ladywood) each garnered All-OAC honors after finishing eighth and ninth overall, respectively. The former earned her first all-conference nod with an 85-85-87—257, and the latter made her second consecutive All-OAC squad after firing an 84-89-85—258.
Silva established the third-lowest 54-hole score in program history with her performance, and Cranmer posted the fourth-best effort in ONU golf history.
Cranmer and Silva also finished 1-2 on the team in stroke average with 83.07 and 88.13 marks, respectively, after competing in all 15 rounds this season.
With her efforts, Cranmer posted the fourth-best single-season stroke average in program history. In addition, she lowered her program-best career stroke average to 83.84 strokes through 31 rounds in her two-year career.
The sophomore from Farmington Hills, Michigan also tied the second-best 18-hole score and tied the fifth-best 36-hole score in school history with an 83-74—157 to claim medalist honors at the Bluffton Fall Classic.
Cranmer earned medalist honors on four occasions this season and also garnered OAC Golfer of the Week kudos on September 25 and April 9.
Meanwhile, Silva lowered her career stroke average to 89.47 per round for the eighth-lowest mark all-time at Ohio Northern.
Senior Suzanne Short (Findlay) rounded out the top-three individual performances in 2018-19, averaging 89.4 strokes in eight rounds before graduating early in December.
Her 90.07 career stroke average over 53.5 rounds at Ohio Northern ranks ninth-lowest in program history.
Silva joined classmate Alaina Mikolajewski (Piqua) and juniors Taylor Daniel (Columbia City, Ind.) and Lydia Shealy (Tiro/Buckeye Central) on the 2019 Academic All-OAC squad.
Silva, a senior early childhood education major, was honored for the third consecutive campaign. She is also a one-time Women's Golf Coaches Association All-America Scholar.
Mikolajewski is a senior criminal justice major and a two-time Academic All-OAC honoree.
This season, she established a career-low 98.9 stroke average in 12 rounds. She recorded career-low 18- and 36-hole scores at the Polar Bear Fall Classic with an 89-97—186 for a fifth-place finish.
In 33.5 career rounds, Mikolajewski has averaged 108.12 strokes. She also joined Silva on the 2018 WGCA All-America Scholar listing.
Daniel, a third-year art education major, received her second consecutive honor after being named to the squad last year.
She finished fourth-lowest on the team with a 93.6 stroke average through all 15 rounds this season. Additionally, she compiled three top-15 performances and battled to a 23rd-place finish at the 2019 OAC Championships with a 93-91-88—272.
Daniel has registered a 95.59 career stroke average through 31 rounds in three seasons. She was also named to the WGCA All-America Scholar squad in the 2017-18 campaign.
Shealy made her first appearance on the Academic All-OAC listing this season.
The junior marketing major did not compete in a varsity-level competition during the 2018-19 campaign.
She currently owns a 98.2 career stroke average through five rounds at ONU. Her career-low 18- and 36-hole efforts were established at the 2017 Ohio Wesleyan Invitational with a 98-95—193.
The Polar Bears opened a busy September slate hosting the annual Polar Bear Fall Classic at Colonial Golfers Club.
From there, Ohio Northern claimed runner-up honors at the two-day Heidelberg Fall Invitational, bested an eight-team field at the Bluffton Fall Invitational, and dropped a tight-knit 707-705 dual match to Ohio Wesleyan to conclude the fall schedule.
Following winter break, the Polar Bears opened the spring slate with a 5.5-1.5 dual loss to Otterbein in the Winterfest Classic at Orange Lake Resort in Kissimmee, Florida during the program's annual Spring Break trip.
Northern rounded out its regular season with a third-place finish at the Otterbein Cardinal Classic and a 10th-place mark at the highly-competitive Wooster Invitational.
The Polar Bears concluded their campaign on April 27-28 with their fourth-place finish at the 2019 OAC Championships.