Women's Golf
On Friday, Amherst placed second behind Boston College at the Massachusetts State Invitational held at the Orchards Golf Club. The team posted a 348 total to finish ahead of rivals Mount Holyoke and Wellesley Colleges. The team exhibited a great deal of consistency and depth, placing four golfers in the top twenty.
As she has done all year, co-captain Katie Gravel '03 paced the women. Gravel ousted the rest of the field, finishing first with a 79.
Emily Foran '05 and Meg Sullivan '05 fired matching rounds of 87, tying for 14th place. Sarah Godwin '05 finished 18th with a 95. Senior Jeannie Limpert's 104 broke a tie for second place with Boston University.
On Saturday and Sunday, Amherst hosted the Northeast Championships. On Saturday, the fairways were saturated with heavy rainfall, making scoring conditions extremely uncooperative. "Everyone was pleased with their scores considering the conditions," said Meg Sullivan '05.
Emily Foran shot a first round 85, followed closely by Gravel's 86.
On Sunday the team was back at the Orchards. Sullivan and Gravel led Amherst with scores of 84 and 85, respectively. The team finished 3rd overall behind Boston College and Boston University to finish as the top Div. III team.
This marks the conclusion of the women's short spring season. It also marks the end of the collegiate careers of two of Amherst's most devoted players, Limpert and Gravel. "Golf was a huge part of my life and I will miss it dearly," said Gravel.
The Jeffs have decided as a team not to compete at the NCAA Championships May 13-16 even if they are selected because the tournament falls during final exams. "Although a difficult decision as coach, it was definitely the right decision for me as an educator. I could sense the pressure that they were all feeling," said Coach Michelle Morgan.
Men's Golf
On Thursday, the men played at the Lou Flumere Invitational. The team finished 9th out of 19 teams present, led by strong individual performances by co-captain Jude Volek '03 and Justin Sharaf '05
Volek made seemingly easy work of the Stow Acres Country Club, tying for ninth place individually with a 78. Sharaf finished one stroke behind Volek, shooting a respectable 79 to tie for 15th position.
Williams College claimed the team title with a team score of 312. Amherst shot a team score of 335.
This past weekend, Amherst played in the District I Shootout at Taconic Golf Club at Williams.
Sharaf was tops for the Jeffs, shooting 79-81 to secure 34th place. He was followed by Keith Zalaski '06 (86-80), Ballaban (86-81), David Litt '06 (84-84) and Jude Volek (89-80). The team's performance was marked by relative inconsistency, finishing 11th out of 12 against a difficult field.
The men will conclude their season this week with the match-play-format Little III Championships, hosted by Wesleyan University. "We're going to get two W's against the two W's," said Zalaski. "Put on your scuba gear, we're going under."