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Josey Stender and the University of Wyoming Cowgirl golf program will enter into its fourth year of existence together. Stender along with heading the Cowgirls is also the assistant director of Wyoming golf since 2005. In Stender's first four years the Cowgirls have shown vast improvements on the course and maintained their long-standing tradition of success in the classroom. The Cowgirls also picked up their first team win in 10-years at the Bronco Fall Invitational this fall. School records have been established for individual low round and event score, as well as team all-time marks for low round and 54-hole event total. In the past two years the Cowgirls have re-written the low team round record ten different times. A note that shows that the Cowgirls have turned a corner and have been playing their best golf since Stender has been at the helm. Stender's coaching philosophy embodies her competitive spirit both on and off the course. "I want to empower our student-athletes to succeed not only while they are here on campus but for the rest of their lives," said Stender. "I feel Coach Jensen and I have been and will continue to be successful at attracting goal oriented, hard working student-athletes who embrace what great qualities UW is all about." UW had a top-five individual finish at the 2006 Mountain West Conference Championship, while 15 Cowgirls have been named Academic All-MWC and eight have been awarded All-American Scholar honors during Stender's brief tenure. In Stender's four-years she was able to tutor one of the best golfer's in Wyoming history in graduated senior Laura Mengelkamp. Mengelkamp had one individual tournament title, 11 top-five finishes and 29 top-25 finishes. She currently owns the lowest individual round and lowest individual event score by a Cowgirl and has four of the top-five lowest individual season stroke averages. Her senior season she was named to the Academic All-American team along with two others from the team. Stender came to UW from Boise, Idaho where she had been the Communications Director for the Idaho Golf Association. A collegiate golfer at the University of Memphis from 1998-2003, she served as a graduate assistant intern in the fall of 2003. Formerly Josey Edwards, she married Jeff Stender on Aug. 20th, 2005. Josey and Jeff, the assistant principal at Laramie Junior High, were blessed with their first child, a son named Griffin on July 18th. On June 1 of 2005, the Wyoming's men's and women's golf programs were restructured. Joe Jensen was elevated from his position of head men's coach and was named Director of both the UW men's and women's programs. Jensen remains as Cowboy head coach and oversees all aspects of Wyoming's golf teams, while Stender functions primarily with the UW women's squad, also serving as the Assistant Director under Jensen. As the assistant director, Stender is very involved in multiple aspects of Wyoming Golf, including outreach, recruiting, practice, putting together the home events hosted by both teams and scheduling with both squads. "I am thrilled to work with Josey," said Jensen. "She does a wonderful job working with me as a team. We are a good blend and together we are developing the Wyoming Golf brand. Josey is very talented, hard-working and we're lucky to have her here. "She has many different duties as assistant director of this program and all our players are benefiting from her position. We are seeing improvements in many different areas of the UW programs. Josey is a great role model for our student-athletes because of her background as a successful student-athlete." Stender earned her bachelor's degree in education, with an emphasis on Sports and Leisure Studies/Sports Management from Memphis in 2001, and then earned her Master's of Science in Sports and Leisure Commerce from Memphis in 2004. An accomplished student, she received numerous academic honors during her playing career, including being named to the National Golf Coaches Association All-Scholar Athlete team three times; 1999-2000, 2001-02 and 2002-03. The 28-year old Idaho native was a successful amateur golfer, winning three state high school titles, earning the 1999 Idaho Women's Amateur Championship, as well as being named the Rocky Mountain PGA Female Amateur Golfer of the Year in 1999. She was a member of the USGA Idaho State Team in 2003, and was a participant at the U.S. Women's Amateur Public Links Championship in 2004. Stender was runner-up in the 2001 Pacific Northwest Golf Association Women's Amateur Championship. She is currently an apprentice for the LPGA Teaching and Club Professional Division. |
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