Women’s golf overcomes windy Iowa in win
The Minnesota State women’s golf team was back on the green Saturday and Sunday for the Upper Iowa University Invite.
The Mavericks won the invite during a sudden-death playoff hole after initially tying with Winona State University. The Mavs’ total team score was 657.
The Mavs were able to get the victory on the first playoff-hole where the top-five players of each team featured. Anna Cihak birdied the par-four first hole, and the rest of the team scored a par to bring the win home.
The competition was held in Waterloo, Iowa at the Sunnyside Country Club. The course is 5,833 yards and is a par-72 track.
This is the Mavs’ first time out on the green competing since the SMSU Spring Challenge March 7-8 where they finished in first place with a total team score of 619.
While the Mavs were victorious in this weekend’s competition, they had more than just their four other opponents to worry about. The weather in Waterloo was not ideal for golfing. It was cold and windy, which meant that the team had to layer up with things such as hand warmers, gloves and stocking caps.
As they were trying to deal with the challenges of swinging a golf club while being that layered, it started to rain and everyone had to get off the course for over an hour.
Once the rain stopped and play resumed, the sun started to come out and the Mavs’ players could take off their layering and get rid of their rain gear. Well it stopped raining momentarily at least.
“It wasn’t 15-20 minutes later, a front comes in and it’s just pouring. Now our women don’t have their rain gear with them, they don’t have their umbrellas,” said assistant coach Todd Pfingsten.
Luckily this pouring of rain lasted about 10 minutes, and the team was finally able to get some sense of normality on the course.
“In the meantime your grips wet, and now the club’s can slip a little bit. So it was a real challenge. But you know what, our women never gave up. They hung in there and at the end when we had to make a few putts, when we had to make a few good scores, they did,” Pfingsten said.
Every MSU golfer finished the event in the top 11. The Mavs were paced by Kelly Winter who shot a 162 on her way to a second-place finish. Cihak finished in fourth with a 165, and Victoria Woytassek finished in fifth place. The freshman finished with a score of 166.
Winona State’s Carly Moon won the entire event with a score of 152.
Next time out for the Mavs, they will be making a trip to Wayne, Nebraska to compete in the Wayne State College Wildcat Classic April 15 and 16.
Header Photo: The Minnesota State women’s golf team will be making a trip to Wayne, Nebraska to compete in the Wayne State College Wildcat Classic April 15 and 16 their next time out. (Courtesy Maverick Athletics)
Write to Mohamed Warsame at mohamed.warsame@mnsu.edu