COEUR D'ALENE, Idaho – Prepped for its final event of the 2021-22 season this week, the Montana State University Billings women's golf team is set for the 2022 Great Northwest Athletic Conference Championships presented by the Coeur d'Alene Resort.
 
The two-round event, which takes place at the par-71, 5,707-yard CDA Resort Golf Course, will commence on Monday morning with Round 1 and will conclude on Tuesday morning with Round 2. Live scoring for the championship tournament will be available online here.
 
"This team has really improved throughout the spring and we shot the lowest score of the year the last time out in Goodyear with a 318," said MSUB head coach Adam Buie. "I do think playing in difficult conditions like we did early in the year has made us more prepared for the rest of the schedule. The third event in Colorado at CSU Pueblo, we were forced to play all 36 holes in one day to beat an incoming storm the next day. It was super nice to go to Goodyear and play in warm and nice conditions with little wind for once."
 
2022 GNAC Women's Golf Championships – Tee Times
Monday, April 18 (all times Pacific)
8:58 a.m. – Meilyn Armstrong – Freshman – Billings, Mont.
9:09 a.m. – Brennan Larson – Sophomore – Roundup, Mont.
9:31 a.m. – Jalen Wagner – Senior – Billings, Mont.
9:53 a.m. – Tierney Messmer – Senior – Sidney, Mont.
10:04 a.m. – Kinsey Irvin – Senior – Lewistown, Mont.
 
The Yellowjackets bring a strong group of seniors to the event, with Kinsey Irvin, Tierney Messmer, and Jalen Wagner each with experience at the conference championship tournament. Irvin and Messmer are the lone Yellowjackets to have played the CDA Resort course layout, when they competed at the GNAC Championships as freshmen in the spring of 2019.
 
The leading player for MSUB this year, Irvin ranks eighth in the conference with a scoring average of 80.1 strokes per round in 2021-22. She tied the school record for single-round score with a 1-under-par 71 on March 20 in Colorado, and won the team's second event of the season – the South Dakota Mines Hardrocker Invitational on Sept. 21. Irvin's 59 career rounds played are tied for eighth most in school history, and her career scoring average of 82.8 strokes per round ranks 10th in program history as well.
 
Another model of consistency over the last four years, Messmer ranks second on the team and 12th in the GNAC in scoring average at 81.9 strokes per round. She has played in all 17 rounds for the 'Jackets this year, and highlighted her season with a fifth-place finish at the Hardrocker Fall Invitational. Messmer enters the championship event ranked eighth in MSUB history with a career scoring average of 82.3 strokes per round.
 
"Kinsey and Tierney have both played at CDR before and we will be leaning on them for help with course knowledge and game planning," said Buie. "Those two are our captains and have provided stellar leadership all year and are strong role models for the rest of our team to look up to. Tierney is coming off her best event of the year in Arizona where she did not have a double bogey the whole event. Kinsey has had a super year with the win in the fall at the SD Mines event.
 
Wagner, MSUB's third senior, checks in with a season scoring average of 88.4 strokes per round which ranks fifth on the team. Wagner joins Irvin and Messmer in having played every round of the season thus far, and she notched her career single-round low of 80 in her most recent outing on April 2 in Arizona.
 
"Our top three are all seniors that have competed in the GNAC Championship before," Buie said. "Jalen has really come a long way in her MSUB career and is now averaging her lowest scoring average in her four years. I cannot really speak enough about how much we rely on these three as a group. They are ideal student-athletes with high GPAs, and they have a good work ethic and attitudes."
 
Steadily improving throughout her true freshman season, Meilyn Armstrong earned a spot in the conference championship after ranking third on the team with a scoring average of 86.9 strokes per round. Like Wagner, Armstrong is coming off her best round yet as she also shot an 80 at the RJGA Palm Valley Classic on April 2.
 
Sophomore Brennan Larson will also be competing in her first GNAC Championship, after posting a scoring average of 90.1 throughout her second season in the program. Larson shot back-to-back rounds of 85 in the team's most recent event, as she twice matched her season-low single-round score.
 
"Jalen has broken her personal best twice this spring and Meilyn just shot a personal low 80 last time out," said Buie. "Brennan also just shot a low 36 score of 170 in Goodyear, so we have several players that are playing as well as they have all season."
 
The Yellowjackets enter the event ranked fifth among the five teams competing with a season scoring average of 342.9 strokes per round. The winner of the championship will earn the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA D2 West Region Championships.
 
ABOUT THE COURSE: The home of the GNAC Championships, the Coeur d'Alene Resort Golf Course provides one of the most unique playing experiences and stages for the conference tournament. The world-famous floating green, located on the par-3 14th hole, provides a one-of-a-kind twist to the lakeside course layout. A full hole-by-hole view of the course is available online here.