Women's Golf
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
- Email:
- magray@uoregon.edu
- Phone:
- (541) 346-5986
Few collegiate coaches command the respect of student-athletes, athletic department, coaching peers and community as assistant coach Meredith Gray who returns for her fourth season with the Oregon women's golf program in 2010-11.
UO's first NCAA trip in 10 years cemented a strong postseason surge in 2009-10, and her rapport with the players and department helped provide an instant bridge of success for first-year head coach Ria Quiazon Scott. Gray's organizational and administrative expertise were equally utilized as the 2010 Pacific-10 Conference Championships tournament director and an organizer for future NCAA Championships bids.
The Ducks opened their magical postseason run with a best-ever Pac-10 Championships finish (third, 292-307-290-889) – four positions better than their pre-meet seeding against a field that featured four teams ranked top six nationally, and two more tabbed top 20.
Two weeks later in the Central Regional, Oregon tied its second-highest ever regional effort (sixth, 305-316-318-939) and ended five positions better than its pre-meet seeding. Not surprisingly, UO steadily climbed the Golfstat/Golfweek national rankings from 38th and 45th to open the season, respectively, to highs of 28th and 32nd in late May.
In 2011, Oregon raised its play again, and combined on an all-time season best-average (299.64) – more than a stroke better than its previous best (300.97, 2008-09).
The Ducks scored two tournament victories – their 23rd and 24th all-time - in the Dick McGuire / Branch Law Firm Invitational (295-296-290-881 (+5)) and Pacific Coast Intercollegiate (304-297-290-891). UO tied its school record tournament score (five-over) in the former tourney, and added its third- and fifth-best ever scores in the Ptarmigan Ram Classic (eight-over) and Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown (13-over), respectively.
Oregon capped the season with a ninth-place finish in the NCAA West
Regional (302-301-306-909) – two places better than its pre-meet seeding
and one stroke shy of tying for the last NCAA Championships invite.
Ranked in the top 35 all season by GolfStat and/or Golfweek, UO also
posted eight of its 16 best team rounds ever that ranged from
second-best (2-under) to ninth-best (2-over). Duck individuals shot four
of the team’s 15 all-time best rounds of four-under or better, and
cheered their second- and fourth-best individual tourney scores from
Omlid (8-under) and Raphaela Dyer (3-under).
Among other season results, Omlid’s win was among nine top-10 placings
that came from Little (4), Dyer (2) and Edwards (1) and Hickle (1). Over
the course of 11 tournaments, players scored 18 under-par and eight par
rounds, courtesy of Little (5/4), Edwards (5/2), Omlid (4/-), Dyer
(3/-) and Hickle (1/2).
As an interim head coach in the spring of 2009, Gray successfully piloted the Ducks to their then-lowest season scoring average (300.9) and trips to the NCAA West Regional (12th, 890) and Pac-10 Championships (seventh, 901). That regional effort was two places better than its pre-meet seeding, the Pac-10 finish tied its best since 1996, and UO also scored a runner-up finish in the Oregon Duck Invitational (301-303-298-902) en route to a season-best national ranking of 25th in the spring.
On the individual front in 2008-09, senior Cathryn Bristow became the third Duck individual to qualify for the NCAA Championships (96th-tie), after she placed ninth in the NCAA West Regional (72-74-69-215) and 10th in the Pac-10 Championships (75-72-70-217) en route to All-Pac-10 honorable mention honors. Kendra Little finished just behind in the league finale (12th, 76-73-70-219) to become UO's second-ever repeat All-Pac-10 Second Team selection, and won her second event in the fall, the Giustina Memorial Classic (69-73-73-215).
Not surprisingly, the pair also stood top 100 in the year-end national individual rankings – Little (Golfstat 78th, 74.57; Golfweek 89th, 74.08); Bristow (GS 87th, 74.87; 91st, 74.16).
UO shined in her first season with the program as an assistant coach in 2007-08. Duck players scored a record three individual tourney championships courtesy of Bristow in the Indiana Invitational, Felicia Eastick in the Giustina Memorial Classic and Little in UO's own Duck Invitational.
Bristow also rewrote the school three-round tourney record (69-69-70-208) in the UNLV Spring Rebel Invitational, and her seven-under final round 65 in the Indiana Invitational also stood as a school all-time best that bettered Little's five-under 67 score from the Las Vegas stop. Team-wise, the young UO squad won the Oregon Duck Invitational for the first time in school history among its five top-three placings, then ended the season 13th in the West Regional.
UO has been equally on par in the classroom in her tenure as Monika Graf (2009) and Kate Hildahl (2008) were Pac-10 All-Academic Second Team honorees, and Hildahl was an NGCA Academic All-American in 2007 and '08. Hildahl received Pac-10 All-Academic honorable mention status with Erica Omlid and Blair Ressler in 2009, as did Bristow and Ressler in 2008.
Gray enjoyed similar success as a collegiate player at Baylor University from 2003-06, and was rewarded with All-Big 12 Tournament honors for her three, top-15 conference finishes (sophomore - seventh, junior - 12th, senior - 14th). She also played on Baylor’s first-ever NCAA tournament qualifiers in 2004 after it placed fifth in the NCAA Central Regional, and she also played on the team's regional qualifier in 2005 that placed 13th in the event. She wrapped up her collegiate career with a low round of 70, and posted seven top-10 finishes, including a career best third-place effort in the 2006 Central District Invitational.
She opened her collegiate career for Arizona State University and played five tournaments as a freshman in 2002-03. A Pac-10 Championships competitor that season, she posted a season low round of 72 in the PING/ASU Invitational.
Away from the collegiate scene, she placed fifth in the U.S Women's Open Regional and qualified for the championship flight at the Trans-National Tournament. She is also a veteran of the Oregon Amateur, Pacific Northwest Golf Association State Amateur and U.S. Amateur Qualifier events.
Off the course, she was honored as an Academic All-American, Academic All-Big-12, Commissioners Honor Roll and NCGA Scholar selection. A Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority member, she also volunteered with the Special Olympics program at Baylor University.
As a prep, the 2002 Marist High School graduate helped her team to five championships and was a three-time state champion with titles as a freshman, sophomore and senior. Altogether, she lettered four seasons in golf and two years in soccer.
Gray (8/30/83), graduated from Baylor with a business administration degree. She worked as a marketing intern with the Pape’ Group in 2006. After graduation, she was an operations intern for the American Junior Golf Association in 2007.
Her family enjoys strong ties to the Duck athletic department. Her father Dr. Donald Jones is a UO team doctor, and her brother-in-law Peter Sirmon was an All-Pac-10 linebacker for the Ducks.
Gray and husband Mark were married in June 2009.
