MARIETTA, Ohio (Mariettatimes.com) – All right-handed-swinging golfer Jill Meiring remembered was trying to do was put the ball on the eighth-hole green - a par 3, 143-yard distance - at the Marietta Country Club.After making contact with a 7-iron, the Marietta College women's basketball coach watched the ball sail, hit about six feet in front of the pin, roll - and then disappear.
"I looked at my teammate Tara (Kurilchick), and she said that she thought the ball went into the cup," said Meiring. "But from where I was standing, I couldn't see."
Meiring, Kurilchick, Alan Thieman, and Tony Chiazza of Dixie Sporting Goods were one of 28 four-person scramble squads competing in the 24th annual Marietta College Pioneer Golf outing at MCC Monday. The event, sponsored by the Comfort Inn Marietta and Dixie Sporting Goods, is the single largest fundraiser for the Pioneer Club each year.
Only after strolling and arriving at the green did Meiring realize what she had accomplished. She'd made a hole-in-one - her first-ever.
"Oh, my gosh. I naturally jumped up and down a little," Meiring said. "I was excited and kind of floored.
"It was a lot of fun - and a lot a luck."
Meiring, a Fort Recovery native, had to admit that she was a part-time golfer at best.
"I like golf but I'm not a regular," she said. "I would love to get out and play more, because I think I could be better."
Meiring probably could be, too, because she is an athlete. At Denison University in Granville, where she majored in psychology and sports management, she was a basketball and softball standout.
After the ace, which came early in the morning - five holes in after the 8:30 a.m. shotgun start - Meiring and her team still had a lot of golf to play. The foursome finished with a score of 66, 4-under on the par 70 MCC course.
"We birdied the last two holes," Meiring said, "and just had a lot of fun the entire day.
"In the clubhouse afterwards, Brian Brewer (Marietta College baseball coach) said that I should pay for a round of drinks for everybody to celebrate, but I couldn't afford that."
Now, it's back to the business of Marietta College women's basketball. Last season, the Lady Pioneers (2-23 overall, 0-18 Ohio Athletic Conference) were undermanned a little bit, due to injuries, with only seven players suited up at the finish.
"We mass-recruited a little bit," Meiring said, "and it went real well.
"We got 19 freshmen coming in and a transfer student from Ohio University. So, we'll be all right. We'll be young, and probably be starting a freshman at point guard. That'll be interesting."
If things do get a little dull and depressing, though, all Meiring has to do is recall a day and an ace in late July at the Marietta Country Club.
That's almost certain to bring a smile to her face.
Ron Johnston is the Marietta Times sports editor and can be reached at 376-5441, or rjohnston@mariettatimes.com
