JALC Women's Golf Takes Home Region 24 Title

By Spyder Dann 
mdann@dailyregister.com

Before the rain and cold moved in to the southern Illinois region on Tuesday afternoon, the John A. Logan women's golf team stocked up on some hardware.

The Vols outlasted Rend Lake College and Danville Area Community College in the three-team Region 24 Tournament, contested at Crab Orchard Golf Course in Carterville.

The home-field advantage may have paid off for JALC as they took a 32-stroke lead into the final day and finished with a 673, after rounds of 341 and 332, beating Rend Lake (738) and Danville (820) for the title by 65 shots.

In addition to winning the Region 24 crown, Cobden product Molly Ellis took home medalist honors and the Vols placed four golfers in the top six. Not to be outdone, Marion graduate and JALC head coach Lauren Bond-Clark took home Region 24 Coach Of The Year, an award she proudly shared with her younger sister, Alexa.

"Molly has been playing some awesome golf and has been so much fun to watch," Bond-Clark said. "Molly is such a consistent player, she's solid and it's an honor to coach her, but she was amazing in this tournament."

"It's such a honor to coach these girls. Even though we had a 32-shot lead, I think even the girls will tell you, we left a lot of shots on the course, but I'm proud of the team as a whole and our four players were really strong."

Bond-Clark noted that the Vols tied their team-low score of 332 Tuesday.

Ellis shot a 43-37 80 on Tuesday, when conditions were primed at COGC and on Tuesday, the sophomore followed it up with a 40-42 82 for a 162.

Lilly Schlemmer (Valmeyer), who finished runner-up had rounds of 81-84 for a 165, while Addison Darush (Sullivan) finished in fourth place after shooting 90-81 for a 171. Kennedy Collier (Effingham) rounded out the scoring with a 98-85 for a 183, while Chloe Thomas (Marion) had to withdraw after Day 1.

The NJCAA National Tournament will be held May 10-13 at Plantation Bay Golf & Country Club in Ormond Beach, Florida.

Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois LOCAL Media Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.