Head Coach Kailin Downs will begin her eighth season on the Park Blocks in 2020-21. In the previous seven seasons, her team has won seven tournament titles, including the 2014 Big Sky Conference Championship and the 2018 Rose City Collegiate in a four-way battle on the final day.
In addition, Downs’ players have won seven individual titles, set 23 new scoring records, earned 16 All-Conference honors and 21 Academic All-Conference awards.
Downs’ ability to recruit young talent, provide a positive playing atmosphere and mold the Viking program in her image has paid off. The Vikings placed third in the ever-improving Big Sky Conference Golf Championship in 2017. Then, went into the final day of the 2018 Championship in contention to win before placing third again. PSU tied for fourth in 2019.
The coming 2020-21 season will include two of the best players in program history. Jasmine Cabajar and Valerie Hernandez, seniors last season, will return, granted an additional year of eligibility by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 outbreak that halted the '19-'20 campaign. With a strong recruiting class of three freshmen and six returning letterwinners, the Viking program will have its deepest roster ever under Downs.
A FAST START
Downs’ first season was a whirlwind as she was hired after fall competition had already begun. Her first day on campus was Sept. 27, 2013 and by Sept. 29 she was running PSU’s Rose City Collegiate golf tournament. Inclement conditions immediately threatened the tournament. It was trimmed from 54 holes to 36, and the teams played on through unseasonable wind and rain. Although Downs had yet to hold a full practice with her new team, the Vikings finished fifth in a strong 15-team event.
One week later, Downs took the Vikings to the New Mexico State Price’s Give ‘Em Five Tournament in Las Cruces. Portland State won the event, shooting a school-record three-over par 867. The three rounds of 291-288-288 all qualified among the top-10 single-round scores in Portland State history. In addition, A Ram Choi won the individual title with an eight-under par 68-73-67=208 - also a school record. Four of the five Vikings shot personal-best scores in the tournament.
The Vikings went on to be picked as the Big Sky Conference favorite in the spring and did not disappoint, winning the Big Sky title by 15 shots over their nearest competitor. The win featured an individual title for A Ram Choi as well.
Downs, who inherited a strong team upon her hire, strengthened it by adding a mid-season recruit, sophomore Alyssa Waite, who ended up being the team’s number-three player by the end of the season.
With two titles, a 28-3 head-to-head record against other Big Sky schools, eight of the top 15 single-round scores and four of the top-10 tournament scores in school history, Downs was also honored as the Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year.
Not a bad beginning to the Head Coaching career of Kailin Downs.
In season two the Vikings started well, posting three sub-900 scores and three top-four finishes in the fall. Although the Vikings did not have as notable of a spring season - they finished eighth in the 12-team Big Sky Championship - PSU had a number of individual accomplishments. Choi won her second straight Big Sky individual title and third straight Player of the Year honor. Hansol Koo was the Big Sky Freshman of the Year.
Krissy Peterson led the Vikings in Downs’ third season, earning All-Big Sky honors and going on to win the Oregon Women’s Amateur Championship over the summer. Also impressive for the Viking squad was having all six players earn Academic All-Big Sky Conference honors. Carson Pickett and Keilyn Ing were named to the WGCA All-America Scholar team.
The 2016-17 season was nearly as strong as Downs’ championship year. The Vikings established new school records for scoring average (301.1), a 36-hole tournament (593) and tied the 18-hole record (287). PSU also had four of the top-10 single-round scores and three of the top-eight 54-hole scores in school history. The Vikings were 81-38 in head-to-head scoring with all teams and 29-8 against Big Sky schools. Four players were recognized on the All-Big Sky Conference list as well as the Academic All-Big Sky Conference list.
Those numbers were bettered in 2017-18. The Vikings smashed the school scoring record by posting a 296.5 scoring average as well as a single-round record of 285. Moreover, the Vikings had the top five single-round scores in school history, as well as 10 of the top 25. Tara Finigan set an individual scoring record (73.76), while freshman Windy Huang matched the single-round record (67). Portland State was 107-41-1 in head-to-head scoring with other schools, 45-4 against Big Sky Conference schools. The Vikings once again had four players recognized as All-Big Sky Conference and four earn Academic All-Big Sky.
In 2018-19, Portland State compiled a 302.1 scoring average, which ranked as third-best in school history. PSU won one tournament, and came within one stroke of its Big Sky Tournament scoring record with a final-round 288. Junior Jasmine Cabajar came within a stroke of a playoff for the Big Sky individual title. It marked a strong finish to her season as she led the Vikings in scoring average at 74.25. Cabajar was second team All-Big Sky and Valerie Hernandez earned third team All-Big Sky. Four players made Academic All-Big Sky Conference.
The Vikings appeared ready to challenge for another Big Sky title in 2020 before the season was halted due to COVID-19. Hernandez and Cabajar were two of the top players in the Big Sky for a team with a 302.5 scoring average.
BACKGROUND
Downs came to Portland State with quality coaching experience and a background as a top collegiate, amateur and professional player.
Downs spent five years (2008-13) as an assistant coach with the Oregon State women’s golf team. She had been part of some of the best individual performances in Oregon State history, including the single-season scoring average record by Seshia Telles in 2012-13 and two of the lowest three-round scores during that same season. Student-athletes garnered Pac-12 All-Academic honors 13 times in her five years.
Downs helped lead the Oregon State women’s golf team to one of their best seasons in school history in 2011-12. That included four top-five and six top-10 finishes in their 12 tournaments, earning OSU’s first trip to the NCAA Regionals in six years. The Beavers shot a school-record 2-under 282 in the second round of the Stanford Intercollegiate in Stanford Calif., and equaled their second-best round in school history with an even-par 288 in the final round of the Pacific Coast Intercollegiate in Half Moon Bay, Calif.
Downs played two years on the LPGA’s developmental tour and the Cactus Tour after a very successful college career at the University of New Mexico where she was a two-time All-American, two-time Mountain West Conference Player of the Year and a four-time All-Mountain West Conference selection.
She also excelled in the classroom and received the Edith Cumming Munson Award given annually to the All-American with the highest GPA. She earned NGCA All-American Scholar honors three times, was named to the All-Mountain West Conference All-Academic team four times and was twice named the Female Athlete of the Year. She graduated from New Mexico in 2005 with a degree in Business-General Management.
Downs won the Women’s Western Junior Amateur in 2001, the Oregon Women’s Amateur, Oregon Women’s Stroke Play and Pacific Northwest Women’s Amateur in 2002 and the Women’s Trans Amateur in 2003. She also advanced to the round of 16 at the 2004 U.S. Women’s Amateur and 2005 U.S. Women’s Public Links.
She won 24 tournaments at Mountain View High School in Bend, Ore., and was named to the All-State First Team two times.
KAILIN DOWNS’ COACHING EXPERIENCE
2013-20 Portland State, Head Coach
2008-13 Oregon State, Assistant Coach
COACHING HIGHLIGHTS AT PORTLAND STATE
• 2013-14 Big Sky Conference Champions
• Seven Tournament titles
• 2013-14 Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year
• 23 new school scoring records over seven seasons
• 16 All-Conference honorees, three conference Player of the Year awards, two Freshman of the Year awards, 21 Academic All-Conference honorees
