The Gustavus Women’s Golf Team opened their spring season last weekend at the Kathy Niepagen Spring Fling hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University in Normal, Illinois.

This start was a week later than originally planned. The Gusties were scheduled to start on April 7, but the Washington University–St. Louis Invite was cancelled due to the poor weather that we are all too familiar with.

The Gusties were coming off of a fifth place finish at the fall MIAC Championships highlighted by a 13th-place individual finish from Senior McKenzie Swenson.

Despite not being able to play outside all spring, the Gusties traveled to Florida for a tune-up trip over spring break and are lucky to have the use of a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility.

“We are very fortunate to have the indoor facility. Not many schools have something like that, so it’s been nice to be able to work on my swing even when we can’t play outside,” Swenson said.

As they traveled to Illinois to begin competing for the 2018 spring season, the Gusties encountered more harsh weather but still managed to compete well.

After day one of the tournament, they turned in a team score of 320 and sat in fifth place out of 18 teams in the field.

Swenson led the team as the only Gustie in the 70’s with her first round 78 (+6).

She was followed closely by Sophomore Kristen Cash and Junior Ellie Brandt who each scored eight-over-par 80.

Sophomore Morgan Bleyhl and Senior Jessica Nelson scored solid rounds of 82 and 83 respectively.

“It was a good effort and start from the team today. We hit the ball pretty well but didn’t convert good shots into a good score. We’re looking forward to cleaning up our play around the greens tomorrow,” Assistant Coach Randy Stuckey said.

The Gusties battled through tough conditions again on day two of the tournament, and ended with a team score of 327, for a total two-day score of 647.

Swenson once again led the way for the Gusties as she carded the lowest score of anyone in the field on day two with a three-over 75.

“I just told myself that everyone had to compete in the same conditions and to focus on shooting the best score I could under the circumstances,” said Swenson.

Bleyhl also improved on her score from the first day with an eight-over 80.

Her total score of 162 was good for an impressive 21st place finish individually.

Cash carded 85 in the second round, and finished tied for 28th place.

Finally, Nelson scored an 87 on day two and finished tied for 40th overall.

The highlight of the day for the Gusties was Swenson’s impressive round, and her two-day total of 153 that was good for a second-place finish overall.

Her round consisted of 13 pars and one birdie, and she finished just one stroke behind the leader, Rylie Leroux of Illinois Wesleyan.

“I was very proud of the way I played. I just stuck with it and everything worked out. A top-five finish is always my goal, so to finish just one stroke behind the champion was pretty cool,” Swenson said.

For her efforts, Swenson earned the MIAC Women’s Golfer of the Week award.

The Gusties will look to build on their fifth place finish in Illinois this weekend as they travel to Waverly, Iowa to compete in the Wartburg Spring Invitational.

Originally, the Gusties were scheduled to play in the Bethel University Royal Match, but that was cancelled due to poor conditions.

After traveling to Iowa, the Gusties will wrap up their spring season at the Carleton Invitational on April 28-29.