SPEARFISH, S.D.- The Black Hills State Yellow Jackets have made it to the RMAC Championships. After a down weekend in Rapid City at the Texas Roadhouse Invite, the Yellow Jackets will now head to the Las Vegas area to Boulder City to compete in the 2025-26 RMAC Women's Golf Championships. BHSU will look to improve on their tenth place finish at the conference championships last year and will look to jump into the single digits. BHSU has had a record breaking Spring and will look to continue that Sunday to Tuesday.


TOURAMENT DETAILS
Dates: April 19-21
Location: Boulder City, Nev. – Boulder Creek Golf Club
Time: Sunday tee times will begin at 11 AM MT/10 AM PT with BHSU being in the first tee times.
Monday will begin at 9:30 AM MT /8:30 AM PT with tee times
Sunday will also be tee times with teams starting at 7 AM.
Live Scoring: Live Scoring will be on Scoreboard Live at the link above
Par: Par 72
 
BLACK HILLS STATE STORYLINES

• The Yellow Jackets are entering the RMAC championships in the middle of a really strong Spring. BHSU did not have their record breaking continue at the Texas Roadhouse Invite in Rapid City, but that didn't take away from the first two tournaments of the Spring where BHSU broke into the top ten in 36-hole and 18-hole individual and team rounds, including setting the 36-hole program record in the D2 era. The Yellow Jackets posted a 709 (+103) in really hard conditions in Rapid City, while finishing fourth at the tournament.
• BHSU broke the program 36-hole record at the SMSU Classic in Arizona and also put both of their 18-hole scores in the top six all time in program history. The Yellow Jackets were able to put up a 36-hole score of 650 (+90) over the two rounds. This included rounds of 323 (+43) and 327 (+47) in each of the two rounds. BHSU's previous school record for 36-holes was set at the 2024 Swan Memorial, where BHSU shot 353. The 323 on day two is tied for second in D2 era history only behind 320 from the 2024 Yellowjacket Fall Invitational
• The Yellow Jackets are entering their third RMAC tournament in the Doran era and every year, they've continued to break records and get into the top 10. The 2022 RMAC Championship is seventh on the programs 54-hole top ten, the 2023 is fifth, the 2024 is sixth, and the 2025 tournament broke the program's 54-hole D2 era record by 18 strokes with a score of 1020 (+156). On the individual side, eight of the 13 54-hole individual scores have come from the RMAC championship with five of them coming in the Doran era. Last year, BHSU had three girls post top-10 marks with Makaela Swanson leading the way with a 248, which was third all time in D2 era history and was only five shots back of the record holder. The Yellow Jackets finished tenth at the RMAC Championships last year, but still were quite a ways back of ninth place. BHSU will need to make up 39 shots this year to move out of tenth place position.
• BHSU was picked to finish 10^th in the RMAC in the RMAC Women's Golf Preseason Coaches' Poll finishing ahead of Adams State and just behind rivals Chadron State and South Dakota Mines.
• The Yellow Jackets finished eighth place at the YFI to end their fall with the team shooting a 680 (+104) over the two days in Billings in which they dropped a spot on day two. BHSU was very close to cracking the top ten 18 hole scores after the first round when they shot a fantastic 335 (+47) and sat in seventh place after the first day before shooting a 345 (+57) on day two.
• Shelbi Gardner is looking to continue one of the best freshman year's in BHSU history after averaging an 83.4 through 16 rounds. She led the team with a 165 (+21) over the two days at the Travis Roy Memorial Invite and shot her second round in the 70s this season with a 79 on day one in Sheridan. This came a week after she shot 77 (+5) on day one of the Swan Memorial, which was tied for the seventh best round in BHSU history and the second best by a freshman. She then finished by shooting 82 (+10) on day two to score a 159 (+15) for a 36-hole score that would put her tied for sixth all time in BHSU history and the best 36-hole score by a freshman in program history. She finished 20^th in the Briarwood with a 174 (+30). Starting her spring, Gardner played incredibly well at the SMSU Classic finishing in the top 25 at 24^th with a score of 160 (+20). She was one of two girls to break 80 in Arizona shooting a 79 (+9) on day one and an 81 (+11) on day two. She is coming off another solid performance in Sioux Falls, where she shot a 163 (+19), which was second on the team and 22^nd in the tournament. She remained consistent, posting an 81 (+9) in round one and an 82 (+10) in round two. She led the team at the Texas Roadhouse Invite by shooting a 170 (+26) including an 84 (+12) on day one.
• Abbi Beld is coming off an impressive fall season, where she averaged 84.5 over ten rounds. She had a 170 (+26) at Spearfish that put her top 25 in the tournament. She will be trying to continue her solid year so far in Billings, including an 83 (+11) in the first round of the Swan Memorial before she withdrew on the second day. She was off to a brilliant start shooting a 40 (+4) on the front nine in her only round and still shot a great 18-hole score with only one hole worse than bogey. She shot a 174 (+30) in her final fall tournament at the Yellowjacket Fall Shootout, which put her in 31^st place. Beld was easily the team leader in Arizona where she shot a 156 (+16) 36- hole score where she finished fifth in BHSU's D2 era for 36-hole score. This included an impressive 76 (+6) on day two of the tournament where she was even through 13 holes. Beld had a down performance at the Augie and posted a 36-hole score of 169 (+25) despite posting nine hole scores of 39 on the front nine in both rounds. She did bounce back nicely in round two shooting an 82 (+10) to finish inside the top 40.
• Olivia McCandless just got done making her 2025-26 debut as an individual at the SMSU Classic in Arizona. The senior did not play in the fall, but ended her 2024-25 season on a hot streak finishing with two top ten finishes in her final three tournaments. She posted a 164 (+22) at the 2025 Hardrocker Spring Invite for a third place finish and then posted a 164 (+20) for a ninth place finish at the DWU Spring Invite. This included an 80 (+9) on day two of the HSI. She began her spring with a solid 170 (+30) over two days where she shot an 85 (+15) each day of the tournament with 14 pars. She then had a breakout tournament of the season at the Augie Spring Invite, when she tied Gardner with a 163 (+19) over the two rounds to finish in a tie for 22^nd with Gardner. She posted a crucial 79 (+7) on round two that included a 37 (+1) on the front nine. Last year at the RMAC Championships, she posted the tenth lowest 54-hole score of BH's D2 era with a 259 (+43).
• Katie Jorgenson played in every tournament this year and is sitting at an 85.6 scoring average through 16 rounds. She had a strong RMAC Championship last year posting the fifth lowest 54-hole score in BHSU's D2 era with a  252 (+36). She had her second best tournament of the season in Spearfish shooting a 167 (+23) over the two days and finishing 18^th in the Homestake Invite. She shot a 83 and an 84 over the two days which were the two best rounds of the tournament by any Yellow Jacket. She was able to put together a strong 84 (+12) at the Yellowjacket Fall Invitational on day two of the tournament to put her with a 171 (+27) and in a 34^th place finish. She had a top 15 finish in the Briarwood Shootout, when she posted a 170 (+26) over two days to finish in 15^th. She had a season-best performance at Elmwood in Sioux Falls when she posted a 162 (+18) over the 36-hole scores to finish in a tie for 20^th. She started her tournament posting a 77 (+5) in the first round, which put her in the top five of the tournament. This included sitting at +2 thru 10 holes. That 77 is tied for eighth all time in BHSU's D2 history. She posted a team best 83 (+11) on the second day of the Texas Roadhouse Invite, which led to her shooting a 178 (+32) over two days.
• Makaela Swanson will look to keep her performance at RMAC Championships going after a great one last year where she posted the third lowest 54-hole score in BHSU's D2 era history with a  248 (+32). She ended her fall strong at the YJI where she shot 169 (+25) for a 13^th place finish at the Briarwood Shootout, which led the team. She is averaging 85.6 strokes per round over 12 rounds. She also shot a 169 (+25) at the Travis Roy Memorial Invite this past week that included an 82 (+10) on day two of the tourney. She had a strong finish at the Swan Memorial as well where she finished in a tie for 49^th place with a 164 (+20) and had a team-low 79 (+7) in round two. Swanson had a great 81 (+9) on the first day and still shot second on the team with a 168 (+24) over the two days at the course she's been very good at. She still finished top 30 with a 28^th place finish. Her last tournament was the Spring opener in Arizona, where she shot a 166 (+26) over two days including an 80 (+10) on day one.
• Leyni Stavola is looking to bounce back in the spring after a up-and-down 14 rounds, where she has averaged a 89.2 over those 14 rounds. She shot a 196 (+52) in the Homestake Invite. Stavola broke that with a 193 (+49) in Billings at the Yellowjacket Fall Invite to end her fall season. She tied her career-low 18-hole score at the Swan Memorial when she shot a 79 on day two. Stavola did bounce back and got her scoring average under 90 on day one of the SMSU Classic when she shot an 82 (+12) on the first day while being +1 through the first 12 holes. She followed that up with an 87 (+17) on day two. She shot her best round to par of the season at Augustana when she shot a 172 (+28) to finish in a tie for 39^th, putting all BHSU players inside the top 40. She shot a pretty good 85 (+13) in the final round. After a rough opening day at the Roadhouse Invite, she posted an 87 (+15) on day two of the tourney.
• Randy Doran is currently in his second season as head coach at BHSU and is looking to continue breaking records and setting new lows.

BLACK HILLS STATE TEAM LINEUP
 

Position	Name	Tee Time
1.	Shelbi Gardner	12:03 p.m.
2.	Abbi Beld	11:45 a.m.
3.	Olivia McCandless	11:36 a.m.
4.	Katie Jorgenson	11:27 a.m.
5.	Makaela Swanson	11:09 a.m.
6.	Leyni Stavola	11:00 a.m.