After a fourth place finish last weekend at the St. Thomas invitational, St. Ben’s golf team made great strides in its goal to advance to nationals this year.
The Blazers are led by sophomore Kathryn Hauff, who finished second individually with a score of 149, which is the lowest score in program history.
“I had been mentally preparing for this tournament for weeks and worked hard practicing,” Hauff said. “It was an important meet so I knew it was time to play well.”
Other key contributors last weekend were junior Sarah Hupperts and senior April Damann. Hupperts’s score of 167 took a 19th place finish, and Dammann shot 174, which tied for 32nd place.
In only its second meet this spring, the team was happy with the results.
“It went really well,” Hupperts said. “Everyone was able to recover with having played an outdoor tournament in Jekyll Island. The scores were a lot lower than where we thought they would be.”
After finishing second in the MIAC this fall, the Blazers hope to continue accomplishing their goals by making it to nationals. Playing in the Carleton Spring Invite this weekend, the team is looking to do well and continue to drop its scores.
“If we do well this weekend, we could play next weekend in Eau Claire and hopefully these good results will lead to a bid to nationals in May,” Hupperts said.
Whether or not the team will have the opportunity to go to nationals this year all depends on how they play this weekend. However, the Blazer golfers have been working hard to ensure they will play the best they can.
“We have been working very hard in practice as well as bonding a lot as a team,” Hupperts said. “We hold each other responsible for our finishes individually and as a team.”
Hauff also has high hopes that the Blazers will do well.
“I’m confident Blazer golf will come through,” Hauff said. “There is no substitution for hard work and dedication and my teammates have plenty of both.”
While there will be tough competition at the Carleton Spring Invite, the Blazers are trying to stay focused on playing their own game.
“We try not to think about other schools,” Hauff said. “Golf is too individualized that we can’t control how other people play. We can only make sure we’re playing the best we can ourselves.”