The Wyoming Cowgirls women’s golf team finished fourth at the Mountain West Women’s Golf Championships, their best result in program history, according to an April 23 announcement. The tournament took place at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage, California.
This achievement marks a significant milestone for the Cowgirls, who matched their highest-ever finish from 2000, when only five teams competed. This year, Wyoming was one stroke behind third-place Grand Canyon and posted a total score of 885 (+21) over three rounds.
“I wouldn’t even say it’s surreal, because I knew how talented this group was,” head coach Josey Stender said. “It was just more of getting us all on the same page, and we slowly built towards that this entire spring.”
Freshman Kiley Reisner led the team with a runner-up individual finish at three under par (213), including a final round score of 70. Only two previous Cowgirl golfers have placed higher than Reisner in conference history. Stender said about Reisner’s performance: “I’m honestly not surprised… But to perform at this level and against our conferences, which is nationally ranked every year and we’re going to have multiple teams make postseason, I think she recognized that she needed to improve her wedge game.” She added: “Kiley also needed to improve her process and just seeing her mature over the year has been extremely rewarding.”
Senior Meghan Vogt ended her collegiate career tied for fourteenth after shooting back-to-back rounds of 73 despite dealing with a shoulder injury. Stender praised Vogt’s contributions: “She has been just an awesome kid for us.” Junior Elle Higgins tied for seventeenth while sophomore Kira Reisner finished tied for twenty-eighth.
Stender credited the team’s success to collective effort: “I give a ton of credit to Meg and Elle, who have just been battling injuries all year long… Their gutsy performances really motivated Kiley to perform highly and motivated Kira to perform highly. It just was truly a collective effort.”
