April 23, 2025 • 8 mins
The Xavier Women's Golf Team has won its sixth consecutive Big East championship and will be off to Columbus to play in an NCAA Regional starting on May 5th.
Head Coach Brenna Jenco joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Follow on Twitter: @MoEgger
Email: mo@espn1530.com
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Head Coach Brenna Jenco joined us on ESPN1530.
Podcasts of The Mo Egger Radio Show are a service of Longnecks Sports Grill.
Listen to the show live weekday afternoons 3:00 - 6:00 on ESPN1530.
Listen Live: ESPN1530.com/listen
Follow on Twitter: @MoEgger
Email: mo@espn1530.com
Get more: https://linktr.ee/MoEgger
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wanted sixth consecutive Big East Championship on Monday afternoon, and
now they're advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers will
compete at the Ohio State University Golf Course in the
NCAA Regional May fit through seven, so they get the
chance to stay close to home six consecutive Big Eiast championships.
(00:21):
The head coach, as she did last year, joins us
on the I think the day it was the same
last year, right, it was the day that we found
out where our program was going to go in the
NCAA tournament. The selection show was just about two and
a half hours ago. So we're doing it again. Brianna
Jenko is with us. Coach, Congratulations, thank you for joining us.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm doing great, Meal, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Sixth consecutive Big East championship. Every championship is unique, every
team is different. What was different about this one? This one?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
We've been really deep this year and been super competitive
just to get in the lineup and stay in the lineup,
and I think that really paid off for us when
it came pressure time to try to add a six
to our portfolio here.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I mean, you know, you don't take a championship for granted,
it's the most in conference history, but like now you
go recruit, you bring players in, the standard is really
really high.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, and that's been something we've talked about a lot.
Is I want players to understand you don't just get
these championships by putting on the uniform. Like everybody before
them has worked really hard to get that done and
to keep it going. And they've got to come in
and match that work ethic and try to find a
way to set the bar even higher.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
All Right, you've got a full team. I do want
to single out one of your players. M Welch second
golfer in conference history to win an individual title more
than once. She's five career top ten finishes, two tournament victories,
now the twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five Big
Eiaest champion. What makes her special? She is super.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Talented, and you know, these last two years, she's really
shown that she can show up for these big moments.
And I was really impressed this year with some of
the shots that she pulled off and in that final round,
and how confident she looked all the way around the
golf course in executing shots like that, and she's she's
(02:17):
always been a player that does some special things with
the putter, and she'd struggled with the ball striking a
little bit earlier in the spring, and man, did it
look good in the practice round and that carried right
into our rounds this weekend. And she really you know,
when she comes together with the ball striking and you
put that on top of the way she's able to putt,
(02:38):
it's a special combination. And obviously she showed it with
with back to back conference medalist honors.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
How does a player of her caliber from Minnesota end
up in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, for a Minnesota kid, we're a little south, so
that's helpful. But she also grew up right around JP mcura,
so that probably helps us out a little bit too,
having known that his name from that state and then
following him here to Xavier. But both her and her
sister were golfers, and her sister was older, so they
(03:13):
had been through the process once and I think they
had a pretty good idea of what they were looking for,
and they were really impressed with our facilities, and so
it all worked out.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
By the way, the final margin of twenty three strokes
the largest margin of victory in the Big East since
the two thousand and three Conference Championship. The Musketeers will
play may Fit through seventh in Columbus. How and this
is a stupid question, I get it, but I do
have folks who are wondering, how does the NCAA tournament work.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So for golf, you get qualified for the NCAA Regional
and there are six regional sites in the top five
teams from each will go on to the National Championship.
So there's just thirty teams represented at the actual national Championship.
So everybody has to compete through this regional stage to
(04:03):
go on to that, and we have not been there yet.
So that is next next goal on our list here
is to find a way to make some noise at
regionals and try to be one of those teams that
advances onto the national championship.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Well, can you tell me about the course?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Ohio State's course is a really good one. It's a
good challenge. I would expect scores to be a little
higher than potentially other locations that we've played at in
the past, but it has a lot of the same
features that our home course here at Makatiua has the
ruff will probably grown up this time of year. You know,
(04:43):
the Midwest rough conditions can be pretty brutal, and we've
had good rainy growing conditions here this spring, so I
would anticipate some challenging rough The greens out there are
interesting too, and I know there's pin locations where you're
kind of aiming in spot. You wouldn't necessarily think that
you want to aim for those pins. So those are
(05:05):
things that we'll talk about. We've been fortunate to have
played some golf out there before. I've coached at that
course before, I played in it when I was a
player here. And then Madison Rimschneider, who is in our
top five. She is from Ohio, so she's played at
a time, she's tried to do US Open qualifiers at it,
(05:26):
So I think we'll have a pretty good feel of
what to expect at that course.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I know I asked you this when you joined me
a year ago. You mentioned your your playing career at Xavier,
wound up your playing career in twenty thirteen and jumped
instantly into coaching, went to Akron for a year and
then came back, and you've been the coach at Xavier
ever since. Obviously some time has passed, But what is
it like when you're the head coach of a program
(05:52):
and your players are i'll say close to your age.
I'm sure maybe you were coaching some former teammates. What
was that like?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, that first year, I was back coaching the girl
that was a senior now was a freshman when I
was a senior on the team. So that was that
was definitely a challenge. I think probably the hardest challenge
I had that first year was to step into coaching
role with her instead of you know, being pretty good
(06:22):
friends with her. I mean, she ended up being in
my wedding and everything, so that was an interesting dynamic.
But I couldn't have asked for a better person to
be in that position, because she did an awesome job
of you know, we kind of put the barricade up
for a year and I said, you know, I got
to be your coach. I need that respect from you,
and then I'd love to go back to being friends
(06:43):
after that, and she was. She handled it awesome and
she was a great kind of thie kick and leader
for us that first year. So it was interesting. And
I think you know Mikayla Smith, who was a freshman
that year would tell you that in her mind, I
got a lot easier as a coach as the years
went on, because I think that first year I was
so nervous of not having the respect that I needed
(07:05):
to be the coach that I kind of really put
the barricade up and said, like, no, you can't talk
to me like I'm your friend. You know, I'm your
coach and I need to get that respect from you
all and and make sure you understand, you know, my
position in this whole thing. But I'm sure they appreciated
kind of having that mentor role from me as well,
(07:25):
having been there and done that and been in their
shoes and not that long ago. I mean now, as
I age, I'm kind of like I'm getting so far
removed from how things were when I was here, and
the college landscape in athletics is really changing, so it's
almost becoming foreign to how it was when I played.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You mentioned you guys practice at mcatewah do like morons
like me ask if like you can get them.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
On, you know, I don't know. We could probably talk
to Dave bar about at some point, but yeah, they
have been such a good partnership for us. And I
attribute a ton of our success to them and the
facilities that we're able to offer to our players. I
think that's, you know, a huge drawing piece for our players,
(08:11):
and then it's also a huge piece of what we're
able to do to help them develop while they're here.
I mean, if you don't have the facilities to help
them develop, you can put all the knowledge into your
head that they want, but they really need to be
able to get the reps and be able to see
the ball land and you know, react the way that
it will on a golf course. And that's what makes
their practice facilities so special, and we're so fortunate to
(08:34):
have access to that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Well, have a great postseason, have a great NCAA tournament,
and then you know, if if at some point during
the summertime you're like, let's let's bring that radio guy
out here, I will say, yes, Okay, okay, no problem,
We'll make it happen. Congratulations and the role it's remarkable.
Best of luck up in Columbus in a couple of weeks.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
All right, thanks
Wanted sixth consecutive Big East Championship on Monday afternoon, and
now they're advancing to the NCAA Tournament. The Musketeers will
compete at the Ohio State University Golf Course in the
NCAA Regional May fit through seven, so they get the
chance to stay close to home six consecutive Big Eiast championships.
(00:21):
The head coach, as she did last year, joins us
on the I think the day it was the same
last year, right, it was the day that we found
out where our program was going to go in the
NCAA tournament. The selection show was just about two and
a half hours ago. So we're doing it again. Brianna
Jenko is with us. Coach, Congratulations, thank you for joining us.
How are you.
Speaker 2 (00:41):
I'm doing great, Meal, Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:43):
Sixth consecutive Big East championship. Every championship is unique, every
team is different. What was different about this one? This one?
Speaker 2 (00:52):
We've been really deep this year and been super competitive
just to get in the lineup and stay in the lineup,
and I think that really paid off for us when
it came pressure time to try to add a six
to our portfolio here.
Speaker 1 (01:07):
I mean, you know, you don't take a championship for granted,
it's the most in conference history, but like now you
go recruit, you bring players in, the standard is really
really high.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
Yeah, and that's been something we've talked about a lot.
Is I want players to understand you don't just get
these championships by putting on the uniform. Like everybody before
them has worked really hard to get that done and
to keep it going. And they've got to come in
and match that work ethic and try to find a
way to set the bar even higher.
Speaker 1 (01:38):
All Right, you've got a full team. I do want
to single out one of your players. M Welch second
golfer in conference history to win an individual title more
than once. She's five career top ten finishes, two tournament victories,
now the twenty twenty four and twenty twenty five Big
Eiaest champion. What makes her special? She is super.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Talented, and you know, these last two years, she's really
shown that she can show up for these big moments.
And I was really impressed this year with some of
the shots that she pulled off and in that final round,
and how confident she looked all the way around the
golf course in executing shots like that, and she's she's
(02:17):
always been a player that does some special things with
the putter, and she'd struggled with the ball striking a
little bit earlier in the spring, and man, did it
look good in the practice round and that carried right
into our rounds this weekend. And she really you know,
when she comes together with the ball striking and you
put that on top of the way she's able to putt,
(02:38):
it's a special combination. And obviously she showed it with
with back to back conference medalist honors.
Speaker 1 (02:44):
How does a player of her caliber from Minnesota end
up in Cincinnati.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Well, for a Minnesota kid, we're a little south, so
that's helpful. But she also grew up right around JP mcura,
so that probably helps us out a little bit too,
having known that his name from that state and then
following him here to Xavier. But both her and her
sister were golfers, and her sister was older, so they
(03:13):
had been through the process once and I think they
had a pretty good idea of what they were looking for,
and they were really impressed with our facilities, and so
it all worked out.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
By the way, the final margin of twenty three strokes
the largest margin of victory in the Big East since
the two thousand and three Conference Championship. The Musketeers will
play may Fit through seventh in Columbus. How and this
is a stupid question, I get it, but I do
have folks who are wondering, how does the NCAA tournament work.
Speaker 2 (03:41):
So for golf, you get qualified for the NCAA Regional
and there are six regional sites in the top five
teams from each will go on to the National Championship.
So there's just thirty teams represented at the actual national Championship.
So everybody has to compete through this regional stage to
(04:03):
go on to that, and we have not been there yet.
So that is next next goal on our list here
is to find a way to make some noise at
regionals and try to be one of those teams that
advances onto the national championship.
Speaker 1 (04:18):
Well, can you tell me about the course?
Speaker 2 (04:22):
Ohio State's course is a really good one. It's a
good challenge. I would expect scores to be a little
higher than potentially other locations that we've played at in
the past, but it has a lot of the same
features that our home course here at Makatiua has the
ruff will probably grown up this time of year. You know,
(04:43):
the Midwest rough conditions can be pretty brutal, and we've
had good rainy growing conditions here this spring, so I
would anticipate some challenging rough The greens out there are
interesting too, and I know there's pin locations where you're
kind of aiming in spot. You wouldn't necessarily think that
you want to aim for those pins. So those are
(05:05):
things that we'll talk about. We've been fortunate to have
played some golf out there before. I've coached at that
course before, I played in it when I was a
player here. And then Madison Rimschneider, who is in our
top five. She is from Ohio, so she's played at
a time, she's tried to do US Open qualifiers at it,
(05:26):
So I think we'll have a pretty good feel of
what to expect at that course.
Speaker 1 (05:31):
I know I asked you this when you joined me
a year ago. You mentioned your your playing career at Xavier,
wound up your playing career in twenty thirteen and jumped
instantly into coaching, went to Akron for a year and
then came back, and you've been the coach at Xavier
ever since. Obviously some time has passed, But what is
it like when you're the head coach of a program
(05:52):
and your players are i'll say close to your age.
I'm sure maybe you were coaching some former teammates. What
was that like?
Speaker 2 (06:00):
Yeah, that first year, I was back coaching the girl
that was a senior now was a freshman when I
was a senior on the team. So that was that
was definitely a challenge. I think probably the hardest challenge
I had that first year was to step into coaching
role with her instead of you know, being pretty good
(06:22):
friends with her. I mean, she ended up being in
my wedding and everything, so that was an interesting dynamic.
But I couldn't have asked for a better person to
be in that position, because she did an awesome job
of you know, we kind of put the barricade up
for a year and I said, you know, I got
to be your coach. I need that respect from you,
and then I'd love to go back to being friends
(06:43):
after that, and she was. She handled it awesome and
she was a great kind of thie kick and leader
for us that first year. So it was interesting. And
I think you know Mikayla Smith, who was a freshman
that year would tell you that in her mind, I
got a lot easier as a coach as the years
went on, because I think that first year I was
so nervous of not having the respect that I needed
(07:05):
to be the coach that I kind of really put
the barricade up and said, like, no, you can't talk
to me like I'm your friend. You know, I'm your
coach and I need to get that respect from you
all and and make sure you understand, you know, my
position in this whole thing. But I'm sure they appreciated
kind of having that mentor role from me as well,
(07:25):
having been there and done that and been in their
shoes and not that long ago. I mean now, as
I age, I'm kind of like I'm getting so far
removed from how things were when I was here, and
the college landscape in athletics is really changing, so it's
almost becoming foreign to how it was when I played.
Speaker 1 (07:42):
You mentioned you guys practice at mcatewah do like morons
like me ask if like you can get them.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
On, you know, I don't know. We could probably talk
to Dave bar about at some point, but yeah, they
have been such a good partnership for us. And I
attribute a ton of our success to them and the
facilities that we're able to offer to our players. I
think that's, you know, a huge drawing piece for our players,
(08:11):
and then it's also a huge piece of what we're
able to do to help them develop while they're here.
I mean, if you don't have the facilities to help
them develop, you can put all the knowledge into your
head that they want, but they really need to be
able to get the reps and be able to see
the ball land and you know, react the way that
it will on a golf course. And that's what makes
their practice facilities so special, and we're so fortunate to
(08:34):
have access to that.
Speaker 1 (08:36):
Well, have a great postseason, have a great NCAA tournament,
and then you know, if if at some point during
the summertime you're like, let's let's bring that radio guy
out here, I will say, yes, Okay, okay, no problem,
We'll make it happen. Congratulations and the role it's remarkable.
Best of luck up in Columbus in a couple of weeks.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
All right, thanks
Mo Egger News
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Special Summer Offer: Exclusively on Apple Podcasts, try our Dateline Premium subscription completely free for one month! With Dateline Premium, you get every episode ad-free plus exclusive bonus content.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!