Women's golf team excited to make history, tee off at national tournament

The Eastern Florida State College women's golf team had been talking about this since the day they got onto campus.

It made the news last week really special for this group.

"Ever since I got here, I would look at the videos of media day, Kasey Walker, Delia Timpy and everyone talking about wanting to go to nationals and I remember thinking, I want to go to nationals!" Kira Shellman said. "And now that we are here, seeing how hard everyone has worked to get here, actually makes it even better because everyone has worked to get here. It feels really great."

Shellman is one of the five players who will tee off on Monday in the first round of the NJCAA Division I National Championship Tournament at Mayfair Country Club in Sanford, Florida.

The team has had some time to let it sink in and are now preparing to make their national tournament debut among 15 of the best junior college women's golf teams in the country.

"I was really excited, I didn't know if I was going to be able to be a part of this during my time here but I am really excited about the group of girls we have and am excited to see what we achieve there," Timpy said. "We are going to put our best foot forward and see what happens."

The women's golf team played at Mayfair Country Club earlier this season in a match against host Seminole State College and know the course will be tough.

"It is not as easy as you think it is going to be, it is definitely a difficult course and you have to stay disciplined," Savannah Hawthorne said. "

Eastern Florida State College finished third in the Southeast District Tournament that was held at Duran Golf Club and is ranked No. 6 in the latest Golfstat NJCAA Top 10 poll.

The Titans are in their sixth season and the program has improved each season. This season the team has finished second twice and seventh once in the three spring tournaments leading up to the postseason.

"I think everyone has high expectations and we have played the course and gotten to know the course a lot better," Gabrielle Fernandez said. "I think we have all worked really, really hard to meet our goal of playing at the end of the season. It feels like we have been there and done that at all of these tournaments and now we get to go do what we have wanted to do the past two years – play for a national title."

The national tournament will begin Monday with the final round scheduled for Thursday, playing 18 holes per day.