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Westminster, Jenteal Jackson Win Conference Titles; Men Finish Fourth

WESTMINSTER WOMEN’S GOLF WINS FRONTIER CONFERENCE REGULAR SEASON TITLEBUTTE, Mont. – Weather wiped out the final two rounds of the Montana Tech Frontier Conference golf event on Monday and that secured the regular season championship for the Westminster women’s golf team. The men’s team earned a fourth place finish in the overall standings.The Westminster women shot a score of 2,305 over the seven rounds of the conference regular season. The won the Tech meet with a score of 313 in the only round played. Jenteal Jackson claimed her second individual title of the season with a 3-over par 75 on the Fairmont Gold Course. That win carried Jackson to a total score of 560 in the three conference meets and the first individual conference champion in school history.Said swing coach Mike Nickas, “Before Sunday’s round we had one goal for everybody, “Beat your fellow competitor from Rocky Mountain College.”  Ordinarily, you hate to make things about one team, but since it was a tight, two-team race for the #1 seed in next week’s Frontier Conference Championship, that way of thinking became a necessity.  All of our ladies accomplished that goal.  I’m very proud of the way they handled the crazy conditions they faced out there!”Westminster finished with three players inside the conference top five overall. Mikayla Williamson finished third at 567 strokes while Candace Dechant placed fifth with her score of 575. Brandi Bork finished the regular season ranked 13th with 609 strokes and Keni Nelson was 14th thanks to her 628 strokes.The Griffins finished with a 21 shot advantage of Rocky Mountain College for the regular season crown. They extended that lead by winning the Tech event by 18 strokes over Rocky. Lewis-Clark State College placed third overall with Carroll finishing fourth. Westminster becomes the first school other than Rocky or LCSC to win the conference title.The men finished fourth in the overall standings after scoring a season total of 2,178. Fourth is the best finish for the team in the history of the program. They also finished fourth at the Montana Tech tournament with a score of 320.Collin Wilkinson was the top placing Griffin overall in the 10th position. Wilkinson shot 533 in his seven rounds during conference play. Alex Howlett finished 13th at 550 with Brian Panter placing 10th at 556. Bryce Till also cracked the top 25 with a 21st-place finish thanks to his 565 strokes.The Griffin teams will now take part in the conference tournament, which features a team vs. team in a seeded bracket. The tournament will take place next Monday and Tuesday at Largemont Golf Course in Missoula, Mont.Westminster will be the No. 4 seed in the men’s event and face Montana Tech in the opening round. Other first-round pairings have Carroll against Montana Western, and Rocky Mountain facing Great Falls, with LCSC receiving a first round bye and awaiting the Westminster-Tech winner in the semi-finals. The matches in the first two rounds are 18 holes, while the championship match is 36 holes.Because only seven FC schools will be fielding women’s teams in the FC Championship, the Griffin women will receive a first-round bye, while the other first-round pairings have Rocky Mountain versus Great Falls, LCSC playing MSU-Northern, and Carroll facing off with Montana Tech. Westminster will face the Carroll-Tech winner in the semi-finals.Only the eventual champion from both the men’s and women’s tournaments will receive automatic invites to the national tournaments. The women’s national tournament is May 17-20 in Greenville, Tenn., at the Link Hills Country Club, while the men’s national tournament is May 24-27 at Silvis, Ill., at the TPC Deere Run course.