The UW Oshkosh women’s golf team finished with a fourth place tie with Bethel University out of 14 teams at the Wartburg College Invitational on Sept. 10 and 11 while shooting 642 and 66 over par.
The Titans had a final score of 325 on Saturday and 317 on Sunday. The Sunday score was the lowest scored round the Titans have played in the past five years.
This was also the first time the Titans had played the link-style Prairie Links Golf Course, a course Titans head coach Liza Ruetten says is difficult considering the blind tee shots the course contains.
“Playing a course for the first time can be extremely difficult,” Ruetten said. “However, the team handled the course admirably.”
Freshman Hannah Braun had a 13th place finish in her second college career invitational, finishing with a score of 157 (+13).
Braun had a score of 80 on Saturday and improved on Sunday with a score of 77. She is coming off a third place finish at the season opener in Oshkosh.
“I am so far content with the start to my college career but there is always room for improvement so I am excited to see how our team scores get lower,” Braun said.
Sophomore Kayla Prieber tied for 14th place finishing 158 (+14) with daily scores of 80 on Saturday and 78 on Sunday.
Prieber is coming off a first place finish at the Titan Classic. The Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference recognized her performance, naming her Golfer of the Week.
Despite her personal performance, Prieber is keeping a team mentality and motivating her teammates.
“I am feeling great about the season so far,” Prieber said. “I have been happy with my game so far this year and we have a stronger team than ever so it will be a very fun season.”
There were three other Titan golfers playing over the weekend.
Senior Laura Stair finished 16th place with a score of 156. Stair improved her score from Saturday to Sunday by a stroke scoring 80 then 79.
Junior Micayla Richards finished 44th place with a score of 168 and sophomore Ireland Dunne placed 70th with a score of 182.
The Titans were ranked seventh out of the 14 teams in attendance at Wartburg.
Four out of the top seven teams in attendance at Wartburg were also at the NCAA Tournament last May in Houston.
The Titans are coming off a first place finish two weekends ago at the season opening UW Oshkosh Titan Classic where they outscored second place UW-Stout by 23 strokes with a score of 647.
Coming in first place on Sunday at Wartburg was Carleton College with a score of 634. In second was the University of St. Thomas with a score of 634 and in third was University of Wisconsin-Stout with a score of 636.
In the individual rankings Alyssa Akiyama of Carleton College came in first with a score of 145, which is one over par.
In second was Vidushi Sinha of Grinnell College scoring 146 and in third was Christine Piwnica of Bethel University with a score of 147.
Ruetten is pleased so far this season with her team’s performance the past two weekends.
“Our motto for the team is ‘one shot at a time,’” Ruetten said. “We’ve had a great start to our 2016-17 season and we hope to continue our solid team performances as our season progresses.”
The Titans season continues on Saturday and Sunday with the Division III classic in Lake City, Minnesota at the Jewel Golf Club.