Women
“This wasn’t our best tournament of the season,” said captain Kinne Schwartz ’10. The team finished well behind Middlebury and St. Lawrence Colleges, and just three strokes behind Mt. Holyoke and Williams Colleges. “While we did well, other teams such as Middlebury put together some exceptional scores on Sunday,” said Alex Chang-Graham ’10. Middlebury finished Saturday’s round tied with Williams for first, just one stroke ahead of Amherst, but the Ephs dropped eight strokes on Sunday to pull ahead.
The team was led (unsurprisingly) by sophomore Hayley Milbourn’s individual tie for fifth-place. She was followed by Laura Monty ’12, Schwartz, Elaine Lin ’12, and Nina Yoo ’12. Chang-Graham’s 166 was the team’s fourth-best score, though it wasn’t counted towards the team score because she and Jordan Chafetz ’11 competed as individuals. “I had an unexpectedly good weekend at Williams,” said Chang-Graham. “Probably most surprising was that my swing was having extreme difficulties during practice ... Some last minute instruction from our coaches apparently did the trick, since I ended up hitting better than I did all season for the weekend.”
Despite their disappointment in the team’s finish at Williams, both Schwartz and Chang-Graham are optimistic about the spring season. Schwartz, who will be abroad this spring, said the team has more to show its competitors. “This spring will hopefully be a reflection of the talent and great dynamics our team has … I think this team is the strongest we’ve seen in years, and the spring should only give us more chances to prove that.”
Chang-Graham will also forgo the spring season to play softball, but she has similar hopes for the team’s future. “While we might have been disappointed with our finish, I think the weekend showed our competitive potential for the spring season.”
Men
The men entered the NESCAC Golf Qualifier at Middlebury College on Monday hoping to qualify for the spring NESCAC Championship. But because only the top four of 10 teams qualified, the Jeffs’ sixth-place finish wasn’t enough to earn them a spot. Middlebury, Trinity, Hamilton and Williams Colleges took the top four spots at the Qualifier.
“We didn’t have our best showing this week at the NEIGA Tournament,” said Trip Wray ’11. The Jeffs finished Monday’s round in seventh place, but they rebounded on Tuesday to drop their score by 13 strokes—a bigger improvement than any other team. Adam Shniderman ’10 shot a 153 to tie for eleventh individually, followed by Wray, Nate Belkin ’12, and senior tri-captains Chris Valentine and Glenn Wong. All five Jeffs lowered their scores on Tuesday, and Amherst and Bowdoin Colleges were the only teams to finish with all five players in the 70s.
The unfortunate weather at Middlebury proved detrimental to the Jeffs’ scores. “The cold windy conditions made the golf course play really hard, and we just simply didn’t play that well,” said Wray. Still, the team is optimistic for the spring season. “We saw great improvement from last year, and guys played some really solid golf this fall. I think this spring we’ll be even stronger.”