Seminole State Women’s Golf team repeats as NJCAA National Champion

Photo: The 2021 Seminole State Women's Golf Team (from left) Grace Connelly, Alexandra Stevenson, Minori Nagano, Minami Kudo, Alex Giles, Rinada Inpan, Mary Ma, Assistant Coach and Raider Women's Golf alum Cynthia Bounleutay, and Grace Aromando

After three days of oppressive heat, the temperature dropped, the winds picked up and so did the scoring. Even with a sloppy fourth round, the Seminole State Women's Golf team capped off a memorable season with its third National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) National Championship in program history. Seminole State finished first by an impressive 45 strokes over instate rival Daytona State College. Ranger Community College finished third over 100 strokes behind.

Seminole State built a commanding lead with rounds of 298, 293 and 292 during those hot days. After that, the only drama was which Raider was going to win individual honors. Minori Nagano finished first with -5, 283 over the four rounds. Alex Giles, nursing a troublesome neck, came in second with a +4, 292 to earn All-America status for a second time. Minami Kudo (+20, 308) and Alexandra Stevenson (+29, 317) joined Nagano and Giles on the NJCAA All-America team.

Head Coach Christa Teno enjoyed her third championship (2015 was the first), but was clearly disappointed with the final round scores. "I love winning, and am proud of our ladies, but I hate bad golf, and we played bad today." Teno also noted her thoughts on the four sophomores who are all graduating and moving on to four-year schools. "I will miss these women; they [Giles, Stevenson, Ranida Inpan, Mary Ma] have all been great representatives of Seminole State College." All four graduating sophomores have earned athletic scholarships at NCAA universities (Incarnate Word, Georgia Southern, Converse College and Wingate University, respectively).

This was the Raiders' second straight championship (2019, 2021). The argument could be made that this would have been their third straight as the team was No. 1 in the nation when the pandemic shut down the 2020 season.