Sweet three-peat! Raider Women’s Golf wins 2022 NJCAA National Championship
With three consecutive wins at the tournament, the program now has four titles in its history.
Thursday, May 12, 2022
Written by: Kimberly Allen
Starting the 2022 NJCAA National Championship at No. 1, the defending national champion Seminole State College of Florida Raider Women’s Golf team maintained the top spot, winning its third consecutive title and the fourth in the program’s history. The Raiders finished by 46 strokes over in-state rival Daytona State College and 80 strokes over Iowa Western Community College, which took third place.
Seminole State stayed in front of the competition with rounds of 296, 300, 305 and 297 on its home course at Mayfair Country Club in Sanford. The Raiders also took home individual honors with golfer Minori Nagano repeating as the individual champion and earning All American honors. Also earning All American honors were Ayami Takahashi, who came in third, and Grace Aromando and Minami Kudo, who also finished in the top 10, tying for No. 6. Freshman Tiana Eldem finished the tournament tied at No. 22. Sophomores Nagano, Aromando and Kudo will head to University of Oregon, Bradley University and Old Dominion, respectively, to continue their collegiate careers.
All four of the Raider Women’s Golf championships have been won under Head Coach Christa Teno, who was named Coach of the Year for the fourth time.
"This is a great team...not just the five young ladies that played four rounds of golf, but the entire team of seven student-athletes who are getting it done in the classroom as well," Teno said. "It is also the team at Mayfair Country Club who did an amazing job with this tournament. Finally, it is also the fantastic community and College members who support our team and our Athletics Department both emotionally and financially. We won as a team!"
Raider Women’s Golf won its first championship trophy in 2015, followed by a win in 2019. With no championship in 2020 due the pandemic, the Raiders came back in 2021 to earn their second consecutive title and now have kept the streak alive with this latest win in 2022.
Seminole State and Seminole County hosted the 2022 NJCAA National Championship. The event is expected to generate an economic impact of nearly $500,000 in the county.
The Seminole State Raider Athletics Department was established in 1965. The Raiders compete in three NJCAA Division I sports: baseball, softball and women’s golf and men’s and women’s cross country. For more information, visit seminolestateraiders.com, follow Raider Athletics on Twitter @buildingRaiders and on Facebook. Fans can also follow the Raider Women's Golf team on Facebook.