THE WOODLANDS, Texas - The Ladies and Gents golf team wraps up the 2017-18 season Monday and Tuesday, April 23-24, at the 2018 Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Championships at the Par-72, Panther Trail Course and the Golf Trails of the Woodlands in The Woodlands, Texas.
This will be the final team competition of their collegiate career for senior Toni Ficarra and juniors Taylor Adair and Jessica Varner for Ladies Golf. Varner is 24th in the nation and may be selected to participate in the NCAA Division III Championships.
Senior Courtney Kale finished her Centenary Golf career after the fall of 2017 semester was complete.
Adair has been a member of the Ladies golf team the past three years. A biology major, she has been named to the Dean's List in both 2016 and 2017.
"Taylor is a small-town girl that has adapted and flourished in Centenary's diverse and difficult atmosphere," said head coach Emlyn Aubrey. "I have watched her mature from day one on campus in both academics (graduating in three years) and golf (improved scoring average every year). I cannot say how proud I am for her accomplishments."
Taylor Adair has six top-10 finishes in her career, including four this season alone. In two of her three seasons, she has earned top-10 honors at the Hal Sutton Intercollegiate, finishing seventh her freshman season and eighth this past year. Her best finish in her career came when she was competing as an individual, receiving runner-up honors at the spring 2018 Pinecrest Intercollegiate March 12-13.
Her favorite Centenary Ladies Golf memory is traveling to Las Vegas "It was the most rewarding experience with the golf team. We had a fun team bonding walking down the Vegas strip!" said Adair.
After graduation, Adair plans on attending East Texas Baptist for a master's degree in kinesiology.
Toni Ficarra will be completing her four-year career at the SCAC Championships. A psychology major with a Spanish minor, Ficarra has been named to the Dean's List in the fall of 2016 and the spring and fall of 2017.
"Toni took her chances and arrived to Centenary from near her hometown in Chicago, Illinois," said coach Aubrey. "Being from such a different region of the country from where she grew up, Toni settled right into 'The Southern Way' and has been awesome not only in the classroom, but as a contributor to Ladies golf. She has missed only one tournament during her career and has always been a hard worker in everything she does."
Like Adair, Ficarra's favorite memory is the Las Vegas trip earlier this year. After graduation, Ficarra plans on getting her master's degree as UW-Milwaukee and then continue on to get her PhD and do research on children who have Apraxia.
Graduating in 2017, Courtney Kale played in the fall of 2017 for the Ladies.
"Where do I start with Courtney? From her very first event as a freshman, Courtney has endured injuries and health problems that would have made the average person give up," explained Aubrey. "Broken bones and multiple surgeries did not hamper Courtney's ability to graduate and play a straight season of golf in her final semesters. Making it through all of this describes her character exactly, and her positivity will certainly be missed around here."
Kale saved the best for last in her final collegiate tournament, firing her best two round total with a 198 at the Abilene Intercollegiate October 23-24, 2017 - nine strokes better than her previous collegiate best.
Finally, Varner will graduate after three years in the engineering program at Centenary. There has been no shortage of accolades for Varner who has six wins of her collegiate career- including four this season.
In fact, this season alone, she has been named SCAC Golfer of the Week five times, receiving this honor eight times in her career.
In 2017, she was named SCAC Golfer of the Year after becoming the first conference medalist for Centenary golf since Hal Sutton in 1979 and 1980.
