By TODD MOORE
Barton Sports Info
Three members of the 10th ranked Barton Community College women's golf team received All-KJCCC recognition following their performances during the 2023-24 conference season.
Butpapaporn Sukterm led the selections in coming out on top of the individual standings as Valentina Leyva also made the 1st team honors while Andrea Peraza landed on the 2nd team.
Compiling 32.5 points to lead second place finisher Dodge City's Gaemphuang Ketrahong's 31 points, Sukterm captured the second meet of the season with runner-up finishes in the other two conference match-ups of the year.
Ranked 4th nationally, Sukterm's meet championship came on a 3-under score at Garden City's Southwind Country Club as the freshman would compile an 8-over total in six rounds of the conference season.
Earlier in the fall season Sukterm began her collegiate campaign with a 2-over, 13-stroke debut victory before rewriting the program record book the following meet with a single round record 9-under par and a 12-under two-round total. Sukterm would capture five tournament titles including closing out the fall portion of the schedule with a 6-under two-round score carrying the momentum through a five month break into conference season.
Leyva was a steady 1st team performer all conference season, picking up a pair of fifth placings with a 7th spot sandwiched between as Peraza hovered in the 10th and final position of the 2nd Team honors with 10th, 9th, and 11th placings.
Like Sukterm, Leyva and Peraza each had a solid fall season building a foundation for the spring.
Leyva finished runner-up to Sukterm in a pair of meets, a fourth in another, with a 7th and 8th placing to her fall credit. Fellow sophomore Peraza started off hot and continued with a great fall season with a pair of runner-up placings, another pair of 3rd places, with one tournament finishing just outside of the top ten of a 51-competitor field.
Most recently the trio helped led Barton back to the NJCAA National Championships for the program's 13th straight appearance for an eventual 12th placing on the national stage held in Melbourne, Florida at the Duran Country Club.
Sukterm challenged for the individual title, firing a program national tournament record 6-under par in the final round to finish the four rounds even par, two strokes behind the leader, while carding a week's total of a program best 16 birdies and just 11 holes of bogey or worse.