Golfers Shine

Fresh off a three-day stint at the WinStar Golf Course near the Oklahoma-Texas border for the Lone Star Conference Men's and Women's Golf Championships and congratulations are in order for both UCO teams.

Hats off in particular to Cassy Knight for capturing her second straight individual league title. The senior improved by two strokes every round and used a brilliant final-nine rally to win by two shots with an even-par 216 total.

Cassy somehow managed a 74 in Sunday's opening round that was contested in horrible conditions, with rain, wind and cold making every shot an adventure. An even-par 72 in Monday's second round left Cassy one shot behind in the medalist race and a so-so front-nine Tuesday had that deficit up to three.

But down the stretch, Cassy was determined and dominating. Four straight pars, then laser-like approaches that led to tap-in birdies. A third straight birdie on No. 16 to take the lead, followed by a pair of routine pars. All that resulted in a back-nine 33 and a final-round 70 for perhaps the best feel-good win of the year for any UCO student-athlete or team.

The Bronchos also got steady play from Raelynn Farthing, who ended up tying for seventh with rounds of 76-75-74. And sophomore Erica Bensch, still smiling despite struggling mightly the first two days, posted an even-par 72 on the final day to help the Bronchos to their best score of the year (296) in finishing fourth.

UCO's men tied their best outing of the year with a third-place showing, firing their two low rounds of 2009-10 the last two days.

Leading that charge was the twosome of Andrew Green and Zach Cleland, who ended up finished 3-4 in the individual standings while going a combined 17-under-par! That dynamic duo was minus-15 the last two days, with A.G. shooting 67-66 and Zach 69-67.

A sophomore playing at an incredibly high level right now, A.G. blistered the par-5s at WinStar. At 6-foot-7 probably the tallest player in college golf, Andrew was 10-under on the 12 par-5s during the three-day tournament and ended up just a stroke off the lead. He's finished second, third, first and third in the last four tournaments.

Zach had his best tournament of the year by far and went the last two days without a bogey on his card, making eight birdies and 28 pars. Now that's consistency. And that's something the Bronchos will badly need again in two weeks when they go to The Territory Golf Club in Duncan for the South Central Regional.

Quick Spring

Amazingly enough, the home season for two spring sports will end this weekend (April 17-18). Doesn't seem possible that most of our spring sports teams will be winding their seasons down soon, but such is the case.

The UCO women's tennis team wraps up its home schedule Saturday, hosting Newman for an 11 a.m. match on the UCO Courts located next to Hamilton Field House. Natalya Smith's Bronchos are 14-4 on the year heading into a Tuesday match at Northeastern State and ranked 24th in NCAA Division II.

UCO is the host school for the Lone Star Conference Championships April 23-24, but that tournament will be held at the Oklahoma City Tennis Center so the Bronchos will be making the final appearance on their home court Saturday.

Hats off to Natalya and her team for their performance this spring. The Bronchos have no seniors on the roster, but ripped off 10 straight wins during one stretch and have made remarkable progress.

This is definitely an up-and-coming program that should easily qualify for the national tournament, so come check out the Bronchos Saturday morning . . . and again next week in OKC at the conference tournament.

Also set to play their home finale this weekend is the baseball team, which will host league rival West Texas A&M for 1 p.m. doubleheaders both days.

Sunday's games will be the final home appearance for several seniors as well as 19-year head coach Wendell Simmons, who is retiring at the end of the season. The Bronchos enjoyed amazing success under Wendell's guidance and he deserves to have a good crowd on hand Sunday afternoon when he bids goodbye.