Following a seventh-place finish at the Mustang Fall Invite and a 17th-place finish at the Illinois Wesleyan Invitational, the Augustana women’s golf team faced tall challenges in their next two invitationals: the CCIW Preview on Sept. 16 and the Midwest Region Classic on Sept. 19-20. But with help from stellar play from upperclassmen and First-Years keeping calm under pressure, the Vikings finished first in the CCIW Preview and finished in 16th, the top half of a competitive field of teams at the Midwest Region Classic.
After the team started their season by winning the Highland Championship, a tournament which they hosted, the Vikings wanted to channel their play back to what it was during that first match of the season. Despite the dip in placement from the last two tournaments, Head Coach Tom Lawrence knew that the ups and downs were natural during the course of a season.
“Sometimes, that’s golf,” Lawrence said. “We played a lot of golf in the preseason, and occasionally you have a midseason drought, but it was nice to play as well as we did at the CCIW Preview. I think we’ve learned to take golf one shot at a time, one day at a time, and sometimes, we just have to forget and move forward.”
The CCIW Preview proved to be a crucial tournament because it is against conference opponents, the same opponents that the team will face off against in the conference championship later on.
In the one-day event, the Vikings couldn’t have hoped to play better than they did. After the final hole, the team came out on top, with junior Sarah Bond finishing in first place with a score of 72, which tied the fifth-best round score in school history. First-Years Lauren Reinertson and Riley Kinsella tied for second place after they both shot 77, while senior Georgia Holt finished in fourth with 78 and First-Year Madison Barnes finished fifth with 79.
After the Mustang Fall Invite and Illinois Wesleyan Invitational, a performance like that can not only be beneficial in terms of rankings or results, but also for the mental aspect of the team. For Kinsella, it was a turning point that shifted the team’s focus from past setbacks back to what still lies ahead of the team.
“It was definitely a confidence boost just to win that, knowing that conference is coming up,” Kinsella said. “I think the team just keeps focusing on our games and doing what we know how to do. We’ve got a lot of talented athletes, and as long as we believe in ourselves and trust in what’s bigger than us, then I think we’ll be okay.”
However, following the victory, the team had only three days to rest and prepare for the Midwest Region Classic, a tournament in Kansasville, Wisconsin, with a massive field of 39 other teams competing. In the last three seasons Augustana has competed in the event, they have finished eighth, fourth and second place, so historically they have had success.
While it may seem a bit daunting that the team has to drive roughly three and a half hours, cramped in a van, and then compete in a tournament with 39 other schools, it also gives the team time to spend with each other. Junior Sarah Bond, planned to use the time to connect with her teammates and reflect on her experience in the tournament.
“I love the Wisconsin course,” Bond said. “I’ve gotten to play it for the last two years. It’s a little bit tricky. It’s somewhere you need to putt it [accurately], or you need to hit your driver straight, so I’m excited to play it where I actually can hit my driver straight. I’m excited to spend time with my teammates. It’s a couple of hours drive, and we’re all gonna be in one van, so it’s a good time to spend with them.”
After the two days wrapped up, the team scored a total of 657, which put them in 16th place out of the 39 teams. Individually, Bond finished the highest out of any Vikings players with a final score of 162 and a tie for 48th place, while Reinerston finished right behind her with a score of 164. Other placements for Augustana included Holt finishing in 65th place and Kinsella shooting 170.
Next, the Vikings will have a brief break from playing until Oct. 6, when they travel to Metamora, Illinois, for the CCIW Championship, which will wrap up the team’s fall season. That downtime offers a rare chance to slow down and assess how far the team has come. It has also reminded players like Kinsella of the support system they’ve built along the way.
“[The most important lesson] is the value of teammates, because my high school didn’t have that much of a golf team,” Kinsella said. “I loved my high school teammates, but they weren’t at all high-level like it is here. Having teammates and playing for somebody outside of yourself, and knowing that if I do well then it’ll help the team, it will boost morale.”
