WEST CHICAGO, Ill. (naccsports.org) --- Aurora University posted a championship-record 303 Monday at St. Andrews Golf and Country Club to put the finishing touches on a 13th Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) women's golf title.
The Spartans carded four sub-80 rounds - including a 2-over 73 from senior
Megan Kobelt - en route to the record total which bettered the former mark of 306 set by Aurora in last year's final round. Aurora (322-307-303) finished with a 932 total, 20 strokes better than runner-up St. Norbert College (325-314-313--952), while Marian University (325-325-320--970) edged Milwaukee School of Engineering (340-323-321--984) for fourth place.
Concordia University Wisconsin (371-352-343--1,066) took fifth ahead of Edgewood University (362-358-355--1,075), and Benedictine University (362-366-368--1,096), Wisconsin Lutheran College (396-379-367--1,142) and Alverno College (585-550-586--1,721) rounded out the field.
Marian's
Yinan Lu saved her best for last Monday, firing the low round of the championships with an even-par 71 on the strength of four birdies. Lu (76-75-71--222) edged St. Norbert's
Emma Laundrie (76-75-73--224) by two strokes to capture medalist honors for the second time in three years.
St. Norbert's
Vivien Ninham (79-76-75--230) and Aurora's
Thanpimol Tharpanawongwech (80-75-75--230) tied for third place, while the Aurora trio of Kobalt (83-78-73--234),
Michelle Beggs (80-78-76--234), and
Anna Coccia (79-76-79--234) tied for fifth. MSOE's
Madison Engebose (79-82-82-243), Aurora's
Maddie Pink (86-78-81--245), and MSOE's
Molly Dalton (88-80-78--246) rounded out the top 10.
The top 10 finishers also received all-Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference honors. It was fourth all-league honor for both Kobelt and Laundrie, the third such honor for Beggs, Lu, and Pink, and the second for Ninham.
Tharpanawongwech was also recognized as the NACC Freshman of the Year as the lowest-scoring true freshman at this year's championships, marking the sixth such honor for a Spartan and the first since Ellie Knight in 2021.
The Aurora University coaching staff of head coach Justin Wyeth and assistant Ellie Knight were recognized by their peers as this year's NACC Women's Golf Coaching Staff of the Year. It is the 10th time that Wyeth or a Wyeth-led staff has been recognized in women's golf.
With the victory, Aurora earns the NACC's automatic berth in the 2026 NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championships slated for May 19-22, 2026, at Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert, California.