ST. PETER, Minn. – The Gustavus women’s golf team opens its 2016 fall campaign at the College of Saint Benedict Invitational at Blackberry Ridge in Sartell, Minn. Sept. 3-4.
The 2015 Golden Gusties took sixth place at the MIAC Championships and lost three golfers to graduation, but return their top scorer in 2015 MIAC All-Conference honoree McKenzie Swenson (Jr., Buffalo, Minn.). Swenson posted a stroke average of 81.7 through 21 rounds, good for 14th in the conference. She tied a team-high for top-10 finishes with five, and posted the Gusties only individual medalist honor of the season when she won the Georgianni Memorial Blugold Invite with a two-round total of 156. Head Coach Scott Moe begins his 13th season with the women’s team and also his 20th year with the men’s.
“We have some of our top returners coming back in Mae Meierhenry (Sr. Sioux Falls, S.D.), Jessica Nelson (Jr., Wayzata, Minn.) and Swenson. They will be our core players,” said Moe.
The Gusties bring back six returners and bring in three newcomers.
“I’ll look to have some freshman come into the lineup such as Kristen Cash (Fy., Roseville, Minn.) and Morgan Bleyhl (Fy., Elk River, Minn.),” said Moe. “Abbie Grevlos (Jr., Sioux Falls, S.D.) and Mallory Drenttel (Sr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) can be in the mix as well so it’s a fairly deep lineup.”
Coach Moe believes the 2016-17 Gusties will be a model of consistency.
“Our strength will be consistency. I don’t see us shooting a lot of super low numbers, but I think our consistency is going to pay off for us. We have players that can go mid-to-upper 70’s, which will be great,” said Moe. “If we can be consistent across the board it will help us out. We are looking to finish toward the top in every event we play. Our conference will be extremely strong and that will some of our best competition of the year, just in our own conference.”