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Leina reigns supreme in collegiate league
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Posted on Apr 29 2014
Former CNMI junior golfer Leina Kim poses at the scoreboard after shooting a school record 69 in one of her tournaments for the 2013-2014 season in the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. (Contributed Photo)
Former CNMI junior golfer Leina Kim did it again, winning the 2013-2014 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Golfer of the Year award at the conclusion of the RMAC Championship last week at the WigWam Resort in Litchfield Park, Arizona.
Kim, who bagged the coveted individual award in her rookie year with the Colorado State University-Pueblo, made it back-to-back after posting impressive numbers in her second season at RMAC. The RMAC Freshman of the Year recorded a 75.1 stroke average and 95.2 head-to-head winning percentage in nine tournaments with the ThunderWolves. She topped three tournaments this season, had Top 10 finishes in eight of CSU’s nine competitions and six Top 5. With her domination this season, Kim was the lone golfer in RMAC to be named Golfer of the Week five times.
Besides getting her second straight RMAC Golfer of the Year award, Kim, who was named 2013 NMASA Female Athlete of the Year, also earned a slot to next month’s NCAA Division II West Super Regional. It will be her second time to compete in the regionals after placing third in her debut last season. Kim was CSU-Pueblo’s lone representative in the regionals last season and this year, she will be joined by two other teammates—Julie Sanchez and Domi DiNallo.
The CSU-Pueblo sophomore was selected to the First Team All-RMAC squad, along with Sanchez, while DiNallo made it to the second team. According to CSU-Pueblo Athletics’ website, members of the elite group were picked based on GolfStat criteria (combining both fall and spring seasons) and players selected were divided into five-member first, second, and third teams.
Meanwhile, Kim and Sanchez towed CSU-Pueblo to its second championship in RMAC in three years. They teamed up with DiNallo, Michaela Breit, and Katie Maglia and combined for a two-round score of 621 in the RMAC Championship held on April 21 and 22.
Kim and company won by 15 strokes against Colorado Mesa State University, which tallied only 636 in two rounds. Eight other schools joined the championship. The CSU-Pueblo quintet took a five-shot lead in the first round against Colorado Christian, 313-318, and smoked its competition after a solid 308 in the second and final round.
In the individual rankings, Kim was tied for third with Adam State University’s Rachel Dyess, as they carded identical two-round scores of 153, just one stroke behind Sanchez and Katrina Mendez of Colorado Christian University. Kim fired a third-best 7-over par 79 in the opening round and played better in the final round with a 2-over par 74 to finish in the Top 3.
