Missouri added two national championship titles on April 10 at the 2022 College Disc Golf National Championships in Marion, North Carolina.
The disc golf club began at Missouri in 2018, but neither the men’s nor women’s team competed in the national championships until last year. While this is the men’s second year in a row at the national championship, where Missouri’s B team finished No. 14 in last year’s championship, this year marked the first national championship appearance for the women’s team.
Both the men’s and women’s teams completed their 2022 seasons undefeated and earned a national championship title, sending ‘MIZ-ZOU’ chants throughout the course.
“We were chanting after the [women’s team] won,” Missouri men’s member Drew Cantrell said. “After we finished chanting for them, I looked up at our team and [said] ‘we are doing this later when we come back and win.’”
The men’s team finished with a -26 to earn a 3-stroke victory while the women’s team finished with a -4 total to secure a 4-stroke win.
For the women’s team, a trio of programs proved to be the biggest threats to perfection: defending champion Ferris State, Brigham Young University and Missouri S&T. The Missouri duo of Alexis Kerman and Renae Beasley found themselves in a tie with Missouri S&T atop the leaderboard after round one.
A strong second round gave Missouri a 7-stroke lead over BYU’s Devri Tanner and Hannah Hunter. Ferris State overtook BYU and Missouri S&T in round three, however, to push themselves into second place.
“On the first day we came out with a seven stroke lead, so that in itself just kind of shows how much work we’ve put in and how all that hard work is paying off,” Beasley said.
Missouri entered round four with a commanding 10-stroke lead over Ferris State’s tandem of Tianna Halfaday and Rachel Dupre. The Ferris State duo then pieced together their strongest round of the championship to pull within five strokes with one round to go.
Kerman and Beasley continued their success in the fifth round with an eagle and four birdies, including a 2-stroke birdie on the 18th hole to secure the victory. Ferris State gained one stroke on Missouri during the final round but could not overcome its 10-stroke deficit in the defeat.
“Winning the championships feels amazing, especially since we didn’t go last year,” Beasley said. “Going into the championship we knew we had a good chance of winning.”
With one championship in hand, the Missouri men’s side looked to replicate the feat for their team.
The quartet of Cantrell, Jared Brabant, Noah Free and Quentin Borengasser finished round one in a tie for 15th place at -6, creating an opportunity for quite the comeback story. A +1 mark in round two bumped the team into an 11th place tie and four strokes behind Northern Arizona.
Missouri then made a strong push in round three, piecing together a -13 round to bring them into a tie for third place. They posted the third-best score of round three behind 13 birdies and five pars, but still finished the round looking for a comeback.
The men’s side remained 3 strokes behind Illinois State and 1 stroke behind Appalachian State entering the fourth and final round. Missouri started the round with two birdies on par-three courses to pull ahead of Appalachian State and into a tie with Illinois State.
“We competed with [Illinois State] many times this year,” Cantrell said. “We knew they had what it took to birdie every hole, so in our head we had to birdie as many as we could.”
A birdie on hole eight finally gave Missouri a 1-stroke lead over Illinois State and propelled them into first place. Six straight birdies starting at the eleventh hole gave the Missouri quartet breathing room with only two holes remaining.
After a bogey on hole 17, Missouri dropped to a slight 1-stroke advantage over a Liberty team, who looked for its own comeback after entering the day in a tie for sixth place. Despite the late push from Liberty, who double-bogeyed on the final hole, Missouri earned a par on hole 18 to capture the championship victory.
“It was hard to imagine us losing,” Brabant said. “Even on the course, every bad break we got, it’s like ‘keep playing, keep playing, we’re still in it.’”
For the men’s team, a motivated comeback guided them to victory, while the women’s team held off a late rally from the defending champions. Both teams are already looking to defend their titles next season and continue their undefeated runs.
“I don’t know who said it, but I’ve heard the saying that you’re not a true champion until you defend your title,” Cantrell said. “I think that mindset is going to be amazing going into next year.”
Both teams hope to grow with the goal of having more men’s and women’s teams compete at the Division I level and transform Missouri’s disc golf club into one that gains a bigger following.
Edited by Riley Gearhart | rgearhart@themaneater.com
