Story Links
Wheeling, W. Va. – After having a lot of individual success throughout the season, the Wheeling University Women’s Golf team was looking to turn that into team success as they competed on day one of the Mountain East Conference (MEC) Women’s Golf Championships. With one round in the books, the Cardinals find themselves sitting sixth overall as they cling to the last advancing team spot with a score of 414. The Cardinals hold a nine stroke lead over West Virginia Wesleyan and had one golfer in the top 10 of the tournament field.
That top 10 finisher through 18 holes was senior Ella Keffer, who is sitting at 83 (+12) and is sitting 10th overall. The senior would start her day on the back nine and after a slow start was able to recoup. She sat at +3 after two holes before steadying herself with back-to-back pars on holes 12 and 13. She added two more strokes to her score on hole 14, but bounced back with her lone birdie of the round on hole 15. She would add two more pars on the back nine and as she hit the turn she would be sitting at +5 as she headed towards the front nine. She would start that front nine strong, hitting par on three straight holes, but added five strokes over her next three holes. She would round out the day with pars on two of the final three holes, shooting +7 on the front nine and finishing at +12 for the round.
The other Cardinal to crack the top 20 of the event was Brielle Milhoan, who sits tied for 17th in the field shooting a 92 in round one. Milhoan would follow Keffer on the back nine, but it was the front nine that would be her top showing of the day. The sophomore shot +14 through her first nine holes before calming down on the front nine. She would hit her second par of the day on hole two, and added three more on the front nine, including back-to-back on holes four and five. She finished at +6 on the front nine to clean up a top 20 performance in the round. Milhoan and Keffer have been leading the way for the Cardinals all season long and both look to drop their scores in round two.
Rounding out the day for the Cardinals were Mallory Bozovich and Graci Fairman, who finished 32nd and 36th respectively. After missing the past two tournaments, Bozovich was back on the course for the championship event and would hit her first par of the day on hole 18. She would end up hitting par a career-best three times in the round, and ended up shooting 113 in her first round of conference championship action. Graci Fairman competed in her first-ever collegiate golf event, after playing with the Women’s Basketball team throughout her career. Fairman would hit bogey five times on the day, including three times on the front nine, and finished at 122 (+50) for her first collegiate event.
Round two of the 2025 MEC Women’s Golf Championships is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7th, with tee times beginning at 8 AM.
