Racer Rewind - MSU's 2003 OVC Women's Golf Championship

GoRacers.com is taking a closer look at one of the most impressive sport performances in the history of Murray State and the Ohio Valley Conference. It's the Murray State women's golf team and head coach Velvet Milkman and the Racers' 12 OVC championships.

Check GoRacers.com for a chronological review of the Racers' 12 titles on Mondays and Fridays.

This chapter in the program's history celebrates MSU's 2003 OVC championship victory at the Country Club of Paducah, it was the second of three-consecutive titles for Coach Milkman's teams.

The Racers posted a score of 932, which ended up as a 39-shot win over Eastern Illinois. MSU was in control the entire way with a 15 shot lead after the first round and they were in front by 22 shots after 36 holes of play.

Newcomer Lee-Anne Pace was the medalist as the Racers finished one-two-three in the event. Pace carded scores of 77-73-74=224, while Nikki Orazine placed second and Stephanie Baskey placed third. Orazine's score line was 79-77-77=233 and Baskey posted 76-80-78=234. Santie Koch's score line of 84-79-81=244 meant the Racers had four players in the top-7. Kelly Wren was 17^th on scores of 93-82-78=253.

Pace was named the OVC Golfer of the Year in 2003, as the Racers were on their way to winning the award in four consecutive seasons.

"I remember being very impressed with the maturity of the team after the second round," said Milkman, who was named OVC Coach of the year. "Our goal was to shoot a better team score every day and it was fun watch them step up to the challenge and shoot the lowest score of the tournament on the last day. Sweeping the top three individual spots is the only time it has been done in OVC history."

As the team has done many times, the seniors were able to be champions in their final tournament. The Racers had ultimate respect for seniors Baskey and Wren and were very excited to get them another OVC ring.

They Racers have won 12 OVC championships and finished runner-up five times in 26 tries. MSU's OVC championships have come in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2009, 2010, 2014, 2017, 2018 and 2019. The Racers have only finished out of the top three only three times.

2003 Ohio Valley Women's Golf Championship
Country Club of Paducah - Paducah, Ky.
Par 72, 6,978 yards - 6 teams, 30 players
May 4, 2003

Team
Murray State 932
Eastern Illinois 971
Austin Peay 987
Eastern Kentucky 990
Tennessee Tech 1000
Tennessee State 1226

Murray State 316 309 307 932 +68
1 Lee-Anne Pace 77 73 74 224 +8
2 Nikki Orazine 79 77 77 233 +17
3 Stephanie Baskey 76 80 78 234 +18
7 Santie Koch 84 79 81 244 +28
17Kelly Wren 93 82 78 253 +37

Murray State University Athletics

Racer Rewind - MSU's 2003 OVC Women's Golf Championship

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