Guarnieri Named East Region Coach of the Year | 4 Oilers Named All-Region

After leading the University of Findlay women's golf team to their first NCAA Division II Regional Championship, head coach Dominic Guarnieri was voted the Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) East Region Coach of the Year.

Guarnieri, who was also voted the 2019 Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC) Coach of the Year, guided the Oilers to the regional title at the Pearl Club in Owensboro, Ky. on May 6-8. The Oilers won the event with a 54-hole score of 895 (303, 291, 301), bettering Indianapolis, the defending NCAA Division II national champions, by eight strokes in the team standings.

During his career at Findlay, Guarnieri has transformed the Oilers golf program into one of the best in the nation. He has been named the G-MAC Coach of the Year twice (2018, 2019) and was selected as the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) Coach of the year in 2015 and again in 2017.

In addition, senior Makenzie Torres, senior Samantha Hatter, junior Meredith Wipper, and sophomore Kristina Kniesly were all named all-East Region for their performances during the 2018-19 campaign.

Torres, who has been voted the G-MAC Golfer of the Year in each of the past two seasons, is now a three-time all-region performer. She led the Oilers to the regional crown by taking runner-up honors with a 54-hole score of 221 (+5). She also took runner-up honors at the G-MAC Championship, finishing the event with a three-round score of 229 (+16).

Hatter becomes an all-region performer for the first time in her career and has been named all-conference four times during her tenure at Findlay. She finished fifth at the conference tournament with a 237 (+24) and placed 10th at the regional with a 227 (+11).

Wipper has been named all-region twice now as she also earned the honor in 2017. She won the G-MAC Championship with a 54-hole score of 224 (+11) and took third at the regional with a 222 (+6). Wipper has also been named all-conference all three years of her career at Findlay.

Kniesly, an all-conference pick in each of her first two seasons with the team, finished eighth at the regional with a 226 (+10) and took tenth at the G-MAC Championship with a 242 (+29). The all-region award is the first of her career.

All-East Region

Katie Chipman, Grand Valley State University
Pilar Echeverria, University of Indianapolis
Samantha Hatter, University of Findlay
Cailyn Henderson, University of Indianapolis
Kennedy Holtsclaw, University of Indianapolis
Katharina Keilich, University of Indianapolis
Kristina Kniesly, University of Findlay
Krystal Knight, Merrimack College
Emma Thorngren, University of Missouri-St. Louis
Makenzie Torres, University of Findlay
Meredith Wipper, University of Findlay

The Oilers will be playing in the NCAA Division II National Championship for the fourth time in the past five years on May 14-18 at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. and will be looking for another top-10 finish. The Oilers finished seventh in 2014, eighth in 2015, and ninth in 2016.