On the morning of Feb. 13 in Litchfield Park, Arizona, the rising sun unveiled the second half of the Ball State women's golf season that began more than five months ago.
After a strong performance to close their fall season at the Diamante Intercollegiate, the Cardinals carried their momentum through the winter, finishing third in their first competition of the new year, the BGSU Women’s Intercollegiate.
“Playing well to end the fall showed us what we were capable of then, and the continuation of the work we put in over the winter is what we are seeing the results of now,” head coach Cameron Andry said.
The Cardinals returned to action Tuesday morning at the Wigwam golf course for the opening two rounds of the event.
“After only playing outside for five or six days in Indiana, you're never really sure what that is going to look like to compete on the grass for the first time in the spring, but on that front, I was really pleased with how we handled it,” Andry noted.
Following a mildly slow start, adjusting to a fresh course that Ball State had only played on once the day prior in the form of a practice round, the Cardinals landed in 6th place at the end of the first round.
It was in the second round that the Cardinals began to turn up the heat, hitting for the best score of the competition's second round and catapulting Ball State into 3rd place.
The Cardinals maintained their position through the final round, led by junior Sabrina Langerak, who finished in 3rd place on the individual leaderboard.
“One of the things I wanted to see this week was how we stacked up against MAC (Mid-American Conference) opponents, and this was really encouraging to see after all the work in the winter,” Andry said. “We’ve now beaten every team in the MAC this season outside of Kent State.”
Tuesday - Round One & Two
Ball State opened the competition by shooting for a score of 309, good for 6th overall and just one stroke behind MAC rival Bowling Green. Langerak led Ball State through the opening round, tied individually at 11th place with a score of 74 (3-over-par).
Trailing Langerak were sophomore Jasmine Driscoll and freshman JJ Gregston, with scores of 76 and 79, respectively. Regrouping for round two, the Cardinals quickly soared up the leaderboard as every competing member of their team improved their score from the previous round.
Before the halfway point in the round, Ball State had already advanced to 3rd place, where they remained until the conclusion of the event’s opening day.
“The golf course played tougher earlier in the morning, and it took us a while to adjust,” Andry said. “We finally got into our groove towards the middle of the first round, then we got off to a really hot start (in the second round) and were able to ride that to the finish.”
Wednesday - Round Three
Closing out the BGSU Invitational, the Cardinals maintained a two-stroke lead against Northern Illinois to finish the competition in third place. Langerak improved her individual positioning to advance into third place overall, with teammate Driscoll trailing with the Cardinals second-best score, finishing in 14th place.
Ball State will travel back to Arizona Feb. 23 for the Rio Verde Invitational hosted by Western Michigan University.
Contact Nick Shelton with comments at nicholas.shelton@bsu.edu or on X @NickS9954.
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