Hitting the greens again for another season, WU Golf prepares to improve upon its previous second place finish in the MIAA Golf Championship.

The golf team is looking to their returning players for leadership in the upcoming season. One of these returning players Blake Allen, sophomore, who landed a conference best seventh place finish in the NCAA Super Regional.

“We shot a school record at the Super Regional in the second round,” said Jeff Stromgren, WU Gold head coach. “Blake Allen, in particular, shot a 64.”

Stromgren said that his team has a high chance of replicating its previously great performance in the conference postseason.

“We have three of the five players back among the group that played in the conference championship,” Stromgren said. “We have enough talent on our team that if we play well, we have a chance to make a run for the conference.”

The golf team got off to a slow start earlier in the season, but finished within three strokes of winning first place in the conference championship.

The golf team finished the majority of their matches in the bottom half of overall finishes to start the season, taking 8th out of 18 in the NSU Fall Classic, 13th out of 16 in the extremely challenging Myrtle Beach Invitational, and 10th out of 20 in the Missouri Western Invitational per wusports.com.

The team hopes to take the next conference by storm and they plan to start the coming season strong. To achieve these goals, WU Golf is looking to its returning players to help guide the team to victory.

“We have one senior that was on the Super Regional team, Chase Coble,” Stromgren said. “We also have Ivan Amarilla with tournament experience, along with a number of juniors that have tournament experience that should pitch in.”

Along with these returning players, WU Golf has a few freshman players that have impressed in the qualifiers.

“We have four freshman and they will all be really good impact players,” Stromgren said. “They are in the mix to even make it into the top five for our first tournament.”

Among these freshman are Austin Kang from Edmond, Oklahoma, Whit Parker from Conway, Arkansas, Colton Massey from Larned, Kansas and Cooper Spears from Wamego, Kansas.

In light of the long hours of practice, strong leadership and mix of new and seasoned players alike, WU Golf seems prepared for the coming season. 

“We have been working on areas in our game that we were not as good as other teams, such as different [putting and chipping drills,]” Stromgren said. “Our ball striking has always been good as a team. We just have to start working on our short game for next season.”

For the first match of the season, the Ichabods tee off Sept. 11 at the University of Central Missouri Invitational at Mules National Golf Club in Warrensburg, Missouri.

The golf team will play in their hometown for the first time this season at the Ichabod Invitational Oct. 16 and 17 at the Topeka Country Club.

A premiere match is scheduled at the Las Vegas Desert Classic March 5, 2018.