Cowgirls open the season at Utah Valley Invitational

Wyoming returns four scorers from National Golf Invitational championship

LARAMIE – Cowgirl golf begins the program's 40th season at the Utah Valley Invitational this Monday and Tuesday on the 7,096-yard, par-72 TalonsCove Golf Club in Saratoga Springs, Utah.

Wyoming returns four of the five scorers from the team that dominated the National Golf Invitational in May to put an exclamation point on a historic season.

Kiley Reisner finished second individually at the NGI to lead the Cowgirls. During her remarkable freshman season, she was also the runner-up at the Mountain West Championships and the individual medalist at the Thunderbird Classic and Bobcat Desert Classic.

Reisner became only the third Cowgirl to be named to the All-MW team, joining Jordan Lintz (2000) and Jonelle Martinez (2009) on the list. She competed in the U.S. Girls Junior Championships in July at Old Chatham Golf Club in Durham, N.C.

"She really learned so much last year, and that is monumental for any student-athlete, especially having such a successful freshman campaign," UW head coach Josey Stender said. "In her case, she really applied a lot of the things over the summer.

"Now the difference is she's back with her team, and we've talked a lot about what comes with this role from a leadership point of view. She's not going to reinvent the wheel, but she definitely has a different set of goals and expectations."

Elle Higgins finished fourth at the NGI and set the program record for individual low round with a 67 (-5) in the opening round of last year's Utah Valley Wolverine Invitational. Over the summer, Higgins was the runner-up at the Wyoming State Golf Association amateur championship and in the Colorado Golf Association Match Play event.

"Elle played a ton of tournament golf this summer, and she really worked so hard in her (physical therapy) in the weight room. I think she's in a really good place physically," Stender said. "Her tournament golf all summer, she was at the top of the leaderboard in four state amateur events, and that says a lot about her dedication to improving and becoming right up there in the conversation with Kiley."

Kira Reisner led the Thunderbird Classic after two rounds before getting caught and passed by her younger sister last season. She also had her first career hole-in-one and finished 19th at the NGI.

"Kira has really evolved as a leader as well for us and come into her own," Stender said. "She's equally as capable as Kiley to have all of these accomplishments and to leave her mark on the team. We expect a lot of big things from both of them."

Lucia Morelli, who had a strong freshman season before sitting out most of last season, will be back in the lineup. Emerson Purcell and Ellie Barry will also be counted on at the back of the lineup with only six players on UW's roster this fall.

"We will not have a shortage of reps for everyone. That's always been important to our program on both the men's and women's side of creating a culture of opportunity, chemistry, development," Stender said. "Now they've got to take advantage of it and really get positive feedback from every time they're out competing."

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