PALM COAST, FLA - For the second time in program history Grace College’s women’s golf can call themselves national champions.
The Lancers won the NCCAA National Championship on Wednesday afternoon after completing a dramatic comeback to overtake Bethel in the final round of the tournament.
Grace trailed by as many as 11 strokes in the 54-hole tournament and entered the final round behind still five of the then leading Bethel Pilots. The Lancers shot 315 in the final round to overtake the Pilots, ultimately winning by six strokes.
Grace finished the tournament with an overall team score of 950, which shattered their previous best mark at the NCCAA National Tournament and was just three strokes off their previous best three-round total.
Brette Hanavan led the charge for the Lancers throughout the tourney and claimed overall medalist honors as the NCCAA Individual National Champion. She becomes the second Grace player to win the individual national championship, joining Summer Stillson who won it in 2022.
Hanavan’s standout performance saw her move up five spots from her first round position to claim the national title honor. She shot 79 in both the first and third rounds and had a 74 in the second round which was the lowest of the day.
She finished with a 232 which is the third lowest championship score in Grace’s history.
Freshman Trinity Bramer helped fuel the comeback on the final day, shooting the lowest third-round score with a 76. She finished the tournament with a total mark of 239.
Bramer tied for seventh place with teammate Grace Beerman. Beerman shot 79 on the final day to bring her tourney total to 239.
Freshman Camille Short also recorded a top-10 finish with a mark of 241 after shooting 78, 81 and 82. Grace was the only school to have four golfers in the top 10.
Grace May saw her improve her third round score by seven strokes to help to seal the victory for Grace. Her final tournament score was 251 for a 17th place finish.
“I couldn’t be more pleased with this team,” said Grace head coach Denny Duncan. “This is a really difficult course to play on and to fight back from an 11-stroke deficit in a national tournament setting is so impressive. So happy to see all of their hard work pay off in this way.”
Duncan was named the NCCAA Coach of the Year for the second time of his career following the tournament.
This is the second national title in program history with the first coming in 2019. Grace has now won 19 national titles in the past six years.