The Augustana women’s golf team claimed their first victory  of the year this past weekend, winning the Highland Classic in Rock Island and breaking a 13 year old school record by scoring 660 to win the tournament.
Freshman Melanie Loeffer led the way for the Vikings, also setting two individual school records. Her first record came from her first round of 70, breaking the record of 74. On the second day, Loeffer’s 36-hole score of 147, after shooting a 77, is also a new school record.
After a fourth place finish at the Mt. Mercy Opener the weekend before, women’s golf head coach Tom Lawrence and the team had high expectations for their first home tournament of the 2016-17 season.
Since the team practices at the Highland Springs Golf Course where the tournament was held, junior and captain Jenna Lawrence had a positive attitude leading into the weekend.
“I think we play really well at our home course, so I think we can shoot really low and do really good things there,” Jenna said.
The team spent most of their off-season making improvements on their shots, skills and attitudes. Lawrence said they were excited to get started for the new season.
“When we’re at practice, we are going to work hard and we are going to do what we can to get better. We are not going to take any days off. That is our mindset,” Jenna said.
The 2016-17 team has a mixture of 12 upperclassmen and freshmen with all players competing for a chance to play on varsity. Tom said the team gets along well and has a great time bonding and playing together.
“Our goal is to build a championship team one step at a time. With lots of hard work we can get there,” Tom said.
After the first day, the team was in first place by seven strokes over Illinois College. By the end of the tournament on the second day, the team was 18 strokes ahead of Illinois College, who finished second. The team completed their lowest round of the season so far, and one of their lowest rounds in the past couple years.
Fellow captain and senior Jenna Stone said this was a great way to begin their season.
“We started the season strong, and hope to keep pushing ourselves to new limits and setting goals for ourselves that will keep us motivated as we move along this season,” Stone said.
The team will play again this weekend at the Mt. Mercy Invitational in Marion, Iowa with the hope of continuing their success.