From March 22-23, the Washburn Ichabods golf team battled ten other teams in Mission Viejo, Calif.

The Bods placed fourth in the overall standings, which is a better rank than previous tournaments this spring, but still not the team’s ideal position. The team looks forward to their three remaining tournaments, the soonest being the UCO Kickingbird Classic in Edmond, Okla., from April 5-6.

“We didn’t play as well as we hoped,” said senior golfer Matt Lazzo. “Our top guys played well, [freshman Brian] Walker and [senior Nate] Sargent played real well. Me and [sophomore] Riley [Piles], if we could’ve stepped up a little bit, we would’ve had a good finish.”

With only a handful of tournaments remaining, the golfers keep an optimistic hope for their future on the links.

“We started off kind of slow this year,” said Walker. “It’s my first year, but we need to be doing a little better than that. We got three tournaments to get better and try to move up in the rankings to get ready for regionals and nationals.”

Looking at the other teams in the upcoming tournaments, the Bods make sure to never let their eyes off of their targets.

“Our main comp this year is probably Central Oklahoma, because we’ve still got to win our conference, which we’re kind of accustomed to winning conference,” said Lazzo. “We’ve won our conference five of the last six years. We didn’t win last year, but if we win the next two conference tournaments, we win conference, which is something we’re working for. If we do that, then that puts us into regionals, so it’s like killing two birds with one stone.”

However staggering the odds may seem, the team refuses to fold under any pressure that they encounter.

“Mental preparation. Keep practicing hard, I guess,” said Lazzo.

“Stay focused and always work on our school work,” added Walker. “We don’t want to get behind on that.”

Lazzo said that the main problem was putting too much pressure on oneself to perform.

“We can’t try too hard, but at the same time, we’re working on the same goal,” said Lazzo. “Hopefully, we can end the season on a good note.”