The winner of the ASC championship will receive an automatic bid to advance to the NCAA Division III championship in May. Photo courtesy of UTD Golf.
The
women’s golf team played in the American Southwest Conference Championships on
April 12-14.
The
championship was held in Glen Rose, Texas, where the Comets also competed
against Mary Hardin-Baylor, Hardin Simmons, Concordia, McMurry, UC Santa Cruz,
East Texas Baptist, Howard Payne and Le Tourneau.
The team
started the tournament as the No. 3 seed for the second year in a row. With an
average of 336.1 strokes per round and on the trail of two first-place wins,
the Comets faced the defending ASC champion, Mary Hardin-Baylor, in the opening
round.
“The
last few tournaments we’ve placed first, which is really good,” said junior
Michelle Edgar. “So now all we have to do is place first one more time.”
The highest the Comets have placed in past ASC
championships is fifth place. The team placed fifth with a score of 332 after
the first round of the championship, compared to first-place and top-seeded
Mary Hardin-Baylor’s 316.
“Last
week, we went to the course and played it,” Edgar said. “The tournament is
three days, but we usually have two-day tournaments, so it’s gonna be more
physically exhausting.”
The
Comets placed first at the Hal Sutton Invitational on March 18-19, where they
scored 670 in two rounds, and at the Texas Cup March 23-24, where they scored
324 after the tournament was shortened due to weather. From there, the team
prepared for the ASC championship.
“We have
a lot of momentum,” said junior Marissa Langer. “There’s only five of us so we
really need to be on top of each other to play. We’re just really trying to work
as a team.”
Heading
into the last round of the championship, the team moved up to second place,
with only a 16-point difference between them and conference leader Mary
Hardin-Baylor. Edgar’s and Langer’s average scores this season are 87.75 and
80.33, respectively. Sophomore Lindy Patterson led the team with a score of
78 in the second round, while Langer followed closely with a score of 79.
The team played against
schools they hadn’t seen this season, Edgar said.
“We
haven’t really competed with the competition that we’re playing in the
conference,” Edgar said. “It will be interesting to see how the other teams
have been doing during their season.”
The
winner of the championship will receive an automatic bid to advance to the NCAA
Division III Championship hosted by Mary Hardin-Baylor in Houston on May 8-11.