FINAL TEAM LEADERBOARD | FINAL PLAYER LEADERBOARD

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. -- For the first time in program history, the Henderson State women's golf team is Central Region Champions. Great American Conference Player of the Year and Hot Springs native Gracen Blount also captured the Central Region title as an individual on Wednesday in a victory that marks her fifth first-place finish of the season.

The region championship is the first for either the men's or women's golf programs. It is just the fourth regional title all-time at Henderson State in any sport. The win punches the Reddies' ticket to next week's NCAA DII National Championships in what will be Henderson's second-ever trip to the National Finals and its first since 2017.

After coming into the day 12 strokes ahead of second place, HSU grew its lead to 24 strokes with a 5-over 293 to finish play with a 54-hole score of 18-over 882.



As a team, Henderson has dominated its competition as of late, winning the conference title by 39 strokes - the second-largest margin in GAC Championship history - and then winning the regional by 24 strokes. The Reddies have a combined 63 strokes on its competition over the past two tournaments.

Head coach Colton Cowan has now won two GAC Championships and a Central Region crown in his first season at the helm of Reddie Golf.

"From a coaching standpoint, you get around a group of girls that love being around each other, love competing and love the game and it makes my job easy," Cowan said. "It allows me to focus on what I need to focus on and I trust them to go put in the work that needs to be done. As we have seen over these past couple of weeks, they've done what they've needed to do to bring home a conference and regional championship."

Blount continued her incredible play of late with a three-round score of 1-over 217 to add another individual title to what has become one of the greatest seasons by a Reddie student-athlete ever.

"I credit so much [of my success] to the high competition I have on my own team," Blount said. "We're all so good, so getting to compete against each other has just made us all better." 

Coming into the final round, Blount held a four-shot lead over the University of Central Oklahoma's Susana Olivares, and held her off over the final 18 holes to finish two strokes in front of the entire 51-player field.



Allie Bianchi finished fourth overall with a 4-over 220 after shooting 1-over 73 in the final round. The Allen, Texas, native has three Top-5 finishes this season.

Karen Lee matched Bianchi's day-three output with her own 1-over 73 to finish 8-over 224, climbing seven spots from day two to day three. After carding a double bogey on No. 1 to start the day, Lee finished 1-under the rest of the way, which included a birdie on No. 18.

Hannah Choi logged the best round of anyone in the field on Wednesday to climb into the Top-10 overall with a 1-under 71. Choi bogeyed two of her first three holes before rattling off four birdies over her next eight.

Daphney Tilton rounded out the Reddie lineup with a 13-over 229 to finish in a tie for 17th.

Henderson State will now head to Gainesville, Georgia for the 2022 NCAA DII National Championships at the Chattahoochee Golf Club on May 10-14.