Emily Shimkus
A freshman at University of Colorado, Colorado Springs, Emily Shimkus topped off her win at the 2021 Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Women’s Golf Championship with a 4-under-par 67, tying the school record. In addition to the individual title, she also led the Mountain Lions to a second-place team finish, three strokes off the pace set by Westminster College.
Shimkus, Cactus Shadows Class of 2020, led her team to state high school championship titles in 2016, 2017 and 2018. She entered her first JGAA event in 2015 in the Girls 13-14 division, and logged nearly 50 tournaments since then, including one win, three runner-ups and two third-place finishes.
Shimkus joined two other 2020 JGAA alums in the conference championship field this week (April 18-19): Kendal Gutierrez, who came in 38th place playing for the Fort Lewis College Skyhawks, and 35th place finisher Rianna Garland, a freshman Hardrocker at the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology.
In JGAA competition, Garland, a Desert Ridge High graduate, racked up three wins, two runner-ups, and three third-place finishes in 35 events entered since 2017. Gutierrez played in 26 JGAA events since 2017, earning a second-place finish, nine top-10s and 22 top-25s, while also a member of the Sunrise Mountain golf team.
