DWU's Allison Meyerink aims to climb leaderboard in return to NAIA women's golf championship

May 15—MITCHELL — Allison Meyerink is back in a familiar position.

Though just a freshman in 2024-25, the Dakota Wesleyan University golfer qualified for the NAIA women's golf national championship, made the 36-hole cut and finished in 52nd place in a field of 156 players.

A year after her NAIA tournament debut, Meyerink is headed back to the national stage. This time, she's hoping to push even further at the 2026 NAIA women's golf national championship, set for May 19-22, at Eagle Crest Golf Club in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

The Mitchell native and back-to-back Great Plains Athletic Conference champion is one of just six individual qualifiers for the tournament. The championship field includes 30 teams plus six individuals whose teams did not qualify.

"I would definitely say this spring was pretty successful, but going into this next tournament, I'm trying to treat it like any other golf tournament, and it's just another golf course," Meyerink said. "I've played this sport my whole life, so I've just got to do my own thing and do my best to stay in it."

Meyerink enters the tournament ranked No. 80 nationally, and the same rankings placed her at No. 123 at the end of last season. However, Meyerink is in select company as the NAIA co-leader in event victories with six, including in back-to-back tournaments last month in the lead-up to nationals. This season, Meyerink has improved her 18-hole scoring average to 77.2 strokes, approaching three full strokes better than the mark of 79.9 she posted as a freshman.

"Her game is good enough to where she can go compete and win. She just wants it to be where she wins by more, and that's what you want to hear as a coach," said DWU coach Jeff Meyerink, who is also Allison's father.

Meyerink made the cut at last year's national championship, and that's a checkpoint she has her eyes set on yet again. She has confidence that her game translates to the course, and even while making the cut a year ago, Meyerink felt she still left several strokes on the course because her putting wasn't up to its normal standard.

"Last year, when she played out there, I don't know that I've ever seen a lady hit the ball as good as she did the first three days," Jeff Meyerink said. "But (putting), that's something that is the difference between giving it a serious run to win the thing and finishing somewhere in the top 50.

"A lot of it is just managing the course. Everybody's going to hit bad shots. That's unavoidable," he added. "It's a hard golf course, and she's going to have to play well to make that cut line again."

This year, Meyerink has one significant advantage over where she was ahead of her first trip to nationals. With the tournament back at Eagle Crest Golf Club for the second year in a row, Meyerink has first-hand experience and knowledge of the course. Prior to last season, she was stuck studying photos, video and the course yardage book.

"Last year, I didn't know what I was getting into because you never know what it's actually going to be until you're there," she said. "It was an amazing course, really a perfect venue. This year, it's the same course, but I guarantee it's going to play a lot differently than it did last year, just like every course is changing every day. Overall, though, I think it is beneficial to have played there before."