Contact: Alex Mielcarz, Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Aug. 28, 2025) – The North Central College women’s golf program begins its 2025 season in Sturtevant, Wis. on Friday, competing in The Ives Grove Firebird Women's Fall Classic hosted by Carthage College.
The Cardinals welcome back a heavy veteran presence, led by seniors Mallorie Clifton and Aleksa Gizewicz, as well as the lone College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) All-Conference selection for the program last season junior Anna Meinhart.
Meinhart scored a career-best 76 in the first round of the CCIW Championship a year ago enroute to her 10th-place finish in the event, securing North Central’s second straight all-conference honoree (Gizewicz in 2023), and the first under head coach Rachel Gray.
Clifton led the team with an 80.89 average a season ago, also shooting a career-best 72 at the CCIW Preview last fall. Gray, who is heading into her second season at the helm of the men’s and women’s golf programs, hopes to see a breakout season from the women this year.
“I want this team to be confident and comfortable,” Gray said. “I want this to be the year that the women light it up.”
The women’s golf program welcomed two freshmen to campus this fall: Annie Claussen and Carley Rogers. She hopes to see the new arrivals excel at the collegiate level, both on the course and in the classroom.
The fall schedule for the Cardinals is one of the most competitive that the program has ever had according to Gray.
North Central is set to compete in six events this fall, highlighted by the Wartburg Fall Invite (Sept. 6-7), the Illinois Wesleyan University Fall Classic (Sept. 13 -4), the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater TPC Invite (Sept. 28-29), all culminating with the CCIW Championship (Oct. 6-Oct. 8).
The fall schedule also provides the program and its athletes the opportunity to compete on some of the best courses in the region, including the nearly century-old St. Andrews Golf and Country Club in West Chicago, as well as TPC Wisconsin, a stop this past June for the PGA Tour Champions series.
This year, North Central hopes to build upon the momentum it has cultivated in the conference over the previous two seasons: a fourth-place finish in the CCIW Championship in 2023, and a third-place finish in 2024.
Gray hopes that the competitive schedule will give the program an opportunity to succeed come the conference championship in October.
Credits:
Steve Woltmann, Mark Black