The Indiana State women's golf team, under the direction of ninth-year head coach
Greg Towne, hit the links for the first time this season on Monday, September 4 for the first of two days of play in the Roseann Schwartz Invitational, hosted by Youngstown State. The event will be held at the Mill Creek Park Golf Course (North) in Boardman, Ohio.
The Sycamores won the event last year (then known as the YSU Kickoff Invitational) with rounds of 308 and 297, including the now graduated
Marissa Uradomo who took home medalist honors.
This year's event will be held on the same, 5,886-yard, par-70 layout as last season where sophomore
Sierra Hargens made a rousing collegiate debut with rounds of 72 and 75 to finish second overall. The Sycamores came back from third place on the final day to win the event.
Dawn Turner was the low medalist in qualifying for this event, but is expected to not travel to Ohio due to an illness. Coach Towne expects to start Hargens,
Robyn Blanchard,
Sophie Benetti,
Thilda Staubo and
Alex Jennings.
"Qualifying was spirited," Towne said. "We are looking forward to defending our title and even though it is YSU's home course we feel confident about the setup."
Blanchard posted rounds of 77 and 75 to finish in sixth place at last year's tournament while Staubo was 25th and Jennings finished 32nd. Benetti will be making her debut at Youngstown.
This is the first of five events that the Sycamores will play in this fall. The event will consist of two rounds -- one each on Monday and Tuesday.