The women’s and men’s golf season has come to an end and will pick up again in late February or early March.
Oct. 9 and 10, both golf teams traveled to Winfield, Kan., for the Southwestern College Fall Golf Invitational. The women finished third out of six teams and the men came out eighth of 10 teams.
Coach Karen Exon said she wasn’t really pleased with their scoring, but thought some of it was affected by the rainy weather.
“Like the men, the women’s scores were not congruent with how well we have scored most of the fall season,” Exon said. “Nevertheless, I was pleased with how well the women, like the men, managed the cold and rainy conditions by maintaining their focus and with no complaint.”
Junior Michael Kahler said he thought they played pretty pathetically at the Winfield course.
“I didn’t really play well,” he said. “The first day was pretty perfect. We should have taken advantage of the course that day. The second day was pretty nasty, but playing in Kansas, you’ve got to adapt.”
The women’s golf team shot a score of 378 on the first day and 373 on the second day.
Junior Ashley Johnson said she didn’t play as well as she would have liked.
“As a team I think we definitely improved the second day, even though we were in the rain,” Johnson said. “We struggled both days.”
On Monday and Tuesday, the men’s golf team played in Kansas City, Kan., at a tournament hosted by Kansas City Kansas Community College at Dub’s Dread Golf Club against 14 teams.
The varsity shot a collective score of 311 on the first day, beat only by Johnson County Community College. The second day the men shot a 315, leading the team to place third overall. Michael Kahler finished as the seventh place individual competitor at this tournament.
Exon was content with the varsity squad’s performance, even though weather conditions still weren’t satisfactory.
“Tuesday’s round was played under much better conditions,” Exon said. “Consequently, when our team score did not improve, we were disappointed. We still managed to beat all other NAIA competitors.”
The men’s golf season will begin in late February or early March, Exon said.
“Obviously, season conditioning will be a key factor in how the men do in the important spring competition preparation for postseason competition,” she said.
Johnson thought the fall season was an indicator of good things to come.
“I think the season went really well,” she said. “Everyone showed great potential.”