Sports Editor- Liv White
The Women’s golf team is off to a strong start this season. The team opened their season September 5th at the Saint Benedict Invitational in Sartell, Minnesota. In the two day-competition the Gusties ended placing 5th out of 11 teams. The following weekend Gustavus hosted the D3 classic in Hastings, Minnesota, placing 3rd of 18 teams with Sophomore Addison Longie placing 4th overall.
On the 5th, the Gusties were excited to be back on the green at the Saint Benedict Invitational. At the end of day one, the Gusties A-team was in 5th place scoring +37, with the B-team following behind in 6th.
Junior Sarah Gutuza led the B-team after shooting +5 through the first 18 holes. She ended the day tied for 7th place with five others. Leading the Gustie’s A-team was Sophomore Teckla Wahlstrand and Senior Mary Kate Hewitt scoring +8, tying for 16th overall. Notably, Senior Riley Zebroski and First-year Annika Johnson ended the day with scores of +10 and +11 respectively, rounding out the top four for the A-team. Zebroski stood tied for 22nd and Johnson for 27th at the end of day one.
The next day the Gusties shot +34 for a combined score of +71, placing them 5th out of 11 teams. Longie showed out on day two of the invitational, shooting -1, recovering from a +14 score the day before. She ended placing 11th overall after having the best round of all 66 golfers on day two of competition.
Wahlstrand and Gutuza tied for 14th overall with Wahlstrand with rounds of +8 and +7 and Gutuza with +5 and +10. First-year Ava Martin also placed tying for 20th shooting +12 and +8 over the two days of competition. Rounding out the top scores for the Gusties, Zebroski and First-year Karina Johnson tied, both shooting +23.
Saturday September 12th, the opening day of the D3 Classic the Gusties started out strong with the A-team ending the day in 2nd with a score of +19 and the B-team in 13th with +42. The two days of competition “Turned out to be a super competitive event,” according to head coach Scott Moe.
Day one Longie led the Gusties shooting +1, ending the day in 3rd overall out of 112 golfers. Wahlstrand had the second finish for the Gusties at +5, tying for 15th. Karina Johnson followed next for the Gusties scoring +6, tying for 19th. The final score to count from the Gustavus A-team came from Annika Johnson at +7, tying for 26th.
Coach Moe explained that he was “super happy with how hard we competed. Our conference is very strong this year, each week will be a battle and you need to be on your game to finish towards the top. We had a very young roster this weekend going with two sophomores and three first years. I think we learned a few things as the weekend went on.”
The Gusties continued the competition the next morning starting at 7:30 am. After a score of +19 to start the first day, the Gusties shot +23 the second day ending the competition for a combined score of +42 placing 3rd. The Gustavus B-team ended the competition in 12th place with a +76 score.
Longie led the team with a +5 score on the weekend placing 4th overall. Wahlstrand tied for 13th overall shooting +9 between the two days. Annika Johnson followed placing 19th overall shooting +11 in the two rounds. For the final score that counted for the A-team, Karina Johnson tied for 34th overall shooting +17. For the B-team Sydney Lovick led the way. Lovick shot the fourth-best score for Gusties with a shot of +16, tying for 32nd.
“All 11 players competed hard and that is always awesome to see. Big tournament coming up this weekend hosted by St. Kate’s, looking forward to another opportunity.” Coach Moe said reflecting on the D3 Classic.
The team will compete next this Saturday September 19th at the St. Kate’s Invitational. The two-day event will be hosted at the Braemar Golf Course (Edina, MN) and the Eagle Valley Golf Course (Woodbury, MN). With the MIAC Championships only a few weeks away, the Gusties are looking forward to another opportunity to compete.