Wildcats Place Third at Heart Championships, Land Two on All-Conference Team

SMITHVILLE, Mo. – The Baker women's golf team came away with a third-place finish at the 2026 Heart Women's Golf Championships, marking a three-round total of 998 across Monday and Tuesday at Paradise Pointe Golf Complex in Smithville, Mo.

The Wildcats rounded out the top three of the 11-team field after finishing behind second-place Clarke (960) and Mount Mercy, who won the conference championship with a winning score of 936.

Sophomore Izabelle Bäckström and junior Reagan Kauth repeated as All-Conference selections, with both golfers earning the distinction for the second consecutive year.

Bäckström was the highest individual finisher for BU, placing eighth on an overall score of 241 (+25). She shot two-over par on her final round on Tuesday, climbing up the leaderboard to earn All-Conference honors for the second time in her career.

Kauth, who placed third at last year's tournament, tied for 18th after carding a 254 for the tournament. She started off with an 82 in Monday's opening round before ending on an 85 on Tuesday.

Kate Braden (248) finished a few spots ahead of Kauth in 14th after closing out her first Heart Championship with an 81 and a 78 in her final two rounds. Braden wraps up a successful debut season for the Wildcats after transferring from Metropolitan CC, coming into the Heart Championships with a runner-up finish in BU's regular-season finale at the MVC Spring Invite.

Madison Zubeck and Brooklyn Bowman each finished in the top 25 as well, with Zubeck carding a 260 and tying for 22nd, while Bowman came in a few strokes back (262) to take 25th.

Securing the program's second straight top-three conference finish, the Baker women close the books on a 2026 season that saw them claim team titles in three of their four regular-season competitions this spring. The Wildcats took first at their home tournament, the Baker Invite, as well as BCU's Match Play tournament and the MVC Spring Invite.

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