The women’s golf team had a successful run in the Central College Fall Invitational at Bos Landen Golf Club last Saturday. All five members placed in the top 25 scorers, four of whom were in the top 10. Hailey Speck ’15, with the team’s lowest score of 91, led the Pioneers’ finish in second place at the Invitational with a total score of 382.
Kayleigh Kresse ’15 noted the importance of its practices to the team’s success.
“Last week, there was a great emphasis for putting and chipping,” she said. “We didn’t focus on our long game as much and we didn’t focus on going to the range and working on our full swings … I feel like that helped us a lot this past weekend.”
This emphasis allowed the Pioneers to accomplish the singular goal Kresse had for the team last weekend: survival. Bos Landen is one of the toughest courses in the team’s circuit. Considering the team played there so early in its season, it was no wonder why it was a major source of concern heading into last weekend.
“[Bos Landen] is known to be tricky sometimes,” Kresse said. “When you play it, it’s really about keeping concentration and basically not blowing up. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.”
Even though the team overcame environmental obstacles of the setting and enjoyed success at the Invitational, it has committed itself to learning from its mistakes.
“[All things considered], it could have gone better. We have a lot to improve on,” said Lauren Yi ’18. “We were able to maintain a positive attitude [despite weather and field conditions] and reorient our game.”
According to Yi, Speck’s performance is even more outstanding considering the environmental conditions that affected the game. Kresse agreed with her teammate, as Speck has consistently shot low scores this season.
“She really stands out as someone who you can depend on to bring in a decently low score,” Kresse said. “She’s really been a rock on the team this season. Someone solid you can count on.”
Speck herself was also pleased with the entire team’s performance and maintains hope for future games.
“This course is of the difficulty level we’ll be playing at Conference, so it was important for us to get that experience before heading into Conference,” Speck said. “In comparison to the courses we’ve played so far, it was good for [the younger members] to navigate this type of course and understand what we’ll be up against at Conference. I think we’ve all found weaknesses in our game, but overall this was a good experience that will help us compete at a higher level during Conference.”
The Pioneers hope to continue their excellent performance next Sunday in a triangular against Central and William Penn in Cedar Falls, Iowa.
