For the second week in a row, the women’s golf team demonstrated its dominance, winning the Mount Holyoke College Invitational by six strokes. The men’s team relied on all five competing athletes’ scores to place thirteenth at the Williams College Invitational. Both teams capitalized on their depth to succeed at their respective competitions.
Women
Winning their first invitational in four years, the women improved upon their impressive fifth-place showing at the competitive Dartmouth College Invitational last week. Finishing at the top of 13 teams at Mount Holyoke, the Jeffs beat NESCAC foe Williams by 12 strokes and defeated a few Div. I teams along the way.
Led by sophomore Hayley Milbourn’s third-place finish, the team had the same top five finishers as in the season-opening tournament. Milbourn was followed closely by Laura Monty ’12, while captain Kinne Schwartz ’10, Elaine Lin ’12 and Nina Yoo ’12 comprised the rest of the team scoring.
Head Coach Michelle Morgan said that the team’s depth played a big role in the Jeffs’ success. “We have seven players on the team this fall, which allows us to create more competition within the team for playing spots on the ladder, which is healthy. Usually we operate with the bare minimum of five which is difficult to maintain with class schedules and conflicts, so we are excited to have healthier numbers.”
Notable among these seven athletes is the presence of three consistently strong first-years. According to Morgan, she was looking to increase the team’s numbers this year by recruiting athletes that were “not all consumed by the sport.” She stressed the importance of finding athletes with experience competing, but who similarly possess academic and other talents that allow them to contribute to the College as a whole. Morgan has high hopes for this year’s additions. “They will be strong contributors for the next four years, no doubt.”
Because the team loses three athletes this spring to studies abroad and softball while picking up one from basketball, the group will continue to fluctuate. But with such depth, the top five spots are always accessible to more than five athletes.
At next week’s Wellesley Invitational, the team will look to dominate the field again as they build upon the last two weeks’ successes.
Men
Coming off of a successful weekend at the Duke Nelson Invitational, the men had set the bar high for themselves. Though last weekend’s showing at the Williams Invitational was not as impressive, the Jeffs still managed to place 13th out of 20 teams.
The team returned only three players from the previous week, and were thus forced to rely on their depth to score well. Trip Wray ’11 led the Jeffs with a 147, finishing in a tie for fourth place, individually. He competed with tri-captains Glenn Wong ’09, Chris Valentine ’09, Will Collins ’09 and Mike Belkin ’11.
“As a team, we would have liked to perform a little better,” said Wray. “We had a strong first day. Guys played fairly well, and we put ourselves in a good spot for the final round. The final round was not our team’s strongest day. Each guy, I think, missed a couple of putts that I’m sure [he would] like back, but that’s golf.”
This weekend, the men will travel to Middlebury for the second time this season. The Jeffs hopes their recent experience on the course will help them perform well at the NESCAC Championship tournament.