The Gustavus Men’s and Women’s Golf teams head into next weekend’s MIAC Championships at Bunker Hills Golf Course with two very different fall seasons behind them.
The women continued their outstanding season last weekend by finishing runner-up to Nebraska-Omaha in the Southwest State Invitational. Junior Captain Katie Schenfeld and Sophomore Taylor Drenttel tied for seventh overall in the competitive tournament that featured mostly Division II programs.
The men bounced back after a rough start to the season with a strong performance in the Blugold Invitational this past Sunday and Monday. They finished 3rd out of 14 teams with a composite score of +60, only two strokes behind St. John’s, which took first. First-year Saul Menendez and Seniors Josh Curb and A.J. Olson led the team. Menendez finished second overall.
The Gustie women are led by Senior Captain Kali Griggs and Schenfeld. The pair was named last week’s Co-MIAC Golfers of the Week for their performance at the Midwest Classic, where they led the Gusties to a first place finish.
“It’s always great to share an honor with a teammate,” Griggs said. “We both left some shots out there, but we were able to pick [them] up the next day.”
Schenfeld felt confident in her team’s chances to successfully defend its Conference title.
“We haven’t been defeated yet this season against a Conference rival,” Schenfeld said.
“We obviously want to win, and we know we have that capability to win.”
Griggs said the Conference offers tough competition, but she feels optimistic heading into next weekend’s MIAC Championships.
“The MIAC is incredibly strong, but we’d obviously like to win the Conference Tournament and get another number on the banner,” Griggs said. “Our team is incredibly deep, and we all have the ability to shoot some low rounds.”
The Gustie men, on the other hand, have battled issues with consistency over the course of the season. Senior Captains Ricky Copeland and A.J. Olson have led the way in the team’s efforts to turn the season around heading into the MIAC Championships.
“We’re obviously not performing as well as we hoped,” Copeland said. “We’re trying a little too hard to make the perfect shot out [on the course]. The team just needs to make the game simpler for ourselves.”
According to Olson, the team’s ability isn’t the culprit for the team’s struggles.
“We have lots of talent on the team from our seven seniors down to our talented f[irst-years],” Olson said. “We just need to bring more competition into our practices and [build our] confidence heading into the MIAC Championships.”
The men look for their recent improvement to get them back on the right track heading into the Conference Tournament.
“We’re just trying to get the wheels turning so we can have everyone get confident for [Conference],” Copeland said. “Our mistakes have made us work harder to get better before the MIAC Championships.”
Olson believes the team can compete at the same level as any Conference rival as long as the Gusties post scores that live up to its golfers’ capabilities.
“We haven’t played to our potential yet, and our Conference is [looking] strong this year,” Olson said. “But all we need [to compete] is to get everyone to play well the same week and get some momentum going.”