With two tournaments remaining in the fall golf season, both the Mules and Jennies teams are continuing to trend upward following top-3 finishes in their latest tournaments.
Both Central Missouri teams have found success with the Mules finishing in the top-3 of each tournament this season and the Jennies picking up two top-3 finishes, including a tournament victory. Between both teams, Central Missouri golfers have earned top-10 individual finishes 11 times this season.
Despite similar results, these teams are on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to upperclassmen. The Jennies are comprised mostly of underclassmen with just two seniors in Elizabeth Leath and Blake Betke.
“It’s different. A lot of our team is underclassmen now with five freshman,” Leath said. “Being one of the seniors is fun though and I hope to be someone that our underclassmen can go to.”
The Mules could not be any more different with six seniors on the roster: Brett Windsor, Cole Dillon, John Bonaobra, Kaden Macha, Lee Betteridge and Josh Haunty. The team the Mules have competed with in their last two tournaments included at least three of those seniors.
“Four years now a lot of us have been playing together and most of us knew each other before then,” Bonaobra said. “It definitely helps having that senior leadership and being comfortable with the guys on the team.”
The Mules have been in contention in each tournament this season with their best showing coming in a second-place finish at the Northeastern State Men’s Classic. Individually, Dillon and Windsor are the best Mules finishers with third and fifth place finishes this season.
Senior John Bonaobra was the Mules top-finisher taking eighth place at the Battle for the Belt Sept. 30-Oct. 2 in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Bonaobra said the team is continuing to improve off of these top-3 finishes.
“We haven’t won yet, but we’ve been really consistent compared to other teams,” he said. “We’re trending really well and most of us have been improving our scores.”
Bonaobra said the Mules have a strong team that is supportive of each other.
“Coach stresses that we trust each other and play for the team when we’re playing,” he said. “When you’re out there making a decision, you know your teammates will trust you.”
The Jennies best showing of the season was Sept. 22-23 at the Mustang Invitational where they took home first place in the team competition and placed the top-2 golfers in junior Olivia Sobaski and Leath.
“We came out the second day 100 percent focused and took that title from them,” Leath said. “I think it was a new record for us on day two at 296. We have some young people coming in here, giving us some new energy and pushing us to keep improving.”
Leath said finishing in second behind Sobaski was hard, but important for the team’s success.
“It was tough, but her and I push each other and the team needed both of our scores to win,” she said. “It’s obviously something you want to do, but she played well that week and so did I but the team won and that’s even cooler.”
Going forward, Leath said the Jennies need to keep improving on what they’ve built.
“We’ve had some really good strong showings on day one, which is something we’ve struggled with in the past,” she said. “Hopefully, we can keep it up when we go the regional site at Muskogee and get ready for that, then just put in a lot of work over the winter and come back even better.”
The Mules next tournament is Monday and Tuesday at the Missouri Western Holiday Inn Express Classic in St. Joseph, Missouri. The Jennies head to Maryville, Missouri, Sunday and Monday for the Midwest Classic at Mozingo Lake Golf Club.
