Women's golf team set to compete in national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College women's golf team is heading back to the NJCAA Division I National Tournament.

The Titans will head to Kansas to play four rounds at the Buffalo Dunes Golf Course in Garden City, Kansas.

Eastern Florida State College is ranked fourth in the NJCAA Golfstat Top 10 national rankings and are coming off a second-place finish in the Southeast District Championships, defeating No. 2 Daytona State College.

It is the second straight year that the Titans will be competing for a national title, finishing in sixth place in the nation last season.

Sophomores Morela Boyd, Gabrielle Fernandez, Savannah Hawthorne and Kira Shellman are all back from last year's team and ready to improve on last year's results. Boyd finished 10^th overall last season and was named the program's first All-American.

Freshman Sarah Knitter has finished in the top 10 in each of the five tournaments this spring and was third overall at the Southeast District Championships. Fellow freshman Gracie Doke tied for sixth overall in the district tournament.

"I don't know of another team that practices harder than they do, I am sure there are some that practice as much but that bunch has worked their tails off and earned their way into the national tournament," Eastern Florida State College women's golf coach Jamie Howell said. "The whole goal was to keep moving up and finishing second in the district tournament is huge. All of that hard work showed up in South Carolina with a strong finish and they are getting ready to go out and we have done our work, just go out and play."

The national tournament will begin May 9.