Kniesly looks back on Findlay's National Championship win
May 19—Kristina Kniesly couldn't have drew up a better finish to her collegiate golf career.
Kniesly's Findlay Oilers won the NCAA Division II National Championship in dramatic fashion last Saturday at the Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville, Georgia.
"It's just so surreal," Kniesly said. "I don't think it's fully set in yet. We were 7-for-7 going into this week winning every tournament this spring which is almost unheard of. Not only as a team but we also had the individual winner for all seven tournaments, so that was pretty cool. And then stroke play we did not bring our best stuff. That's the worst we've played all spring. But we got in by one shot and we said, 'hey, it's like a whole new tournament, we've won seven in a row, now we get a chance to win again.' We were told as long as you have a seat at the table, we can still eat. So we got our seat at the table and we just said 'keep positive, have fun and keep doing what we've been doing all year and it's going to work out in our favor,' and it did."
After three days of stroke play, the top eight teams advanced to head-to-head medal match play at the National Championship. In medal match play scoring, Kniesly defeated her final opponent 70-75 overall, so she won 5-up. The Oilers defeated No. 3-ranked Limestone by a 3-2 score in the national championship match.
The Oilers won all eight of their events this year. Might they be the best team in D-II women's golf history?
"I'd love to say that, but I just don't know," Kniesly said. "It's just crazy to think about, so I feel like it has to be. You see all these teams, nobody's really done what we've done. They have the same thing going on in D-I men's right now, Vanderbilt has only lost one time all spring and it was to one team and they're the most talked about team right now. So it's like we've beat every team, so let's talk about us a little.
"We say we can't believe it but we do believe it. We knew we were capable of it. It's just so awesome that it actually happened."
Also this past week Kniesly, a Logansport product, was named first team All-American while Findlay head coach Dominic Guarnieri was named East Region Coach of the Year.
Kniesly picked up her second All-American award of her career after finishing in a tie for 14th at the national championship. This spring, Kniesly has won medalist honors at three different tournaments and now has five tournament wins in her career, tied for the most all-time at Findlay. She finished third or higher in each event this season until she placed fifth at the NCAA Regional.
She shot a 2-under 70 on the final day of the National Championship.
"It was just staying in the moment," she said. "My coach walked with me. I knew we didn't play our best the first three days so the last day of stroke play I was kind of a mess because I was worried so much that that's going to be my last college round. Getting to the last round in the national championship match, I knew that was exactly how I wanted to end my career. So I just stayed in the moment, had fun, kept it together until 18, then I was a mess. But still finishing birdie-birdie to seal the deal for my match was incredible."
As for how she composed herself on 18, she said, "My coach and I are very close and I was fine on the tee box and I hit my tee shot perfectly. And he let me walk up the fairway by myself and I was OK, I was like tearing up but like fine. And then he came up to me and put his arm on my shoulder and I was like, 'I'm good, I'm fine.' And then we picked the club, I hit the shot to 3 feet. But it's an elevated green so I had no idea where it was. But as soon as I heard the ball hit the green I bent down to my knees and just started crying because I was like 'oh my gosh,' everything just kind of hit me in that moment. But I hit it to 3 feet thank goodness because over my putt I could barely see. It was a mess. Everyone was crying."
Kniesly has already graduated with a degree in early childhood education and is finishing up her Master's in Education with a Reading Emphasis this summer.
She also plans to continue her golf career. She said she's keeping her options open with the possibility of continuing a professional career.
