Success for Women’s Golf

September 28, 2017
The Women’s Golf team continued their improving trend by finishing in second place at the University of Wisconsin in Whitewater’s Invitational and by winning the Aurora University Spartan Fall Classic.
On Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22-23, five Wheaton golfers traveled to the Blackhawk Country Club in Madison, Wisc. to compete against 16 other teams. As a team, Wheaton finished second overall with a final team score of 685. Carthage College, a conference rival for the Thunder, finished with a final score of 688. Wheaton was behind Carthage after Friday’s round, but were able to perform better on Saturday to beat the Lady Reds by three points.
According to the Wheaton Athletics website, three of Wheaton’s golfers finished in the top 20. Junior Madeline Birkbichler shot 165 in two rounds and was Wheaton’s top finisher with a tie for fourth place overall. Senior captain Kylie Monson tied 14th by shooting 170, and freshman Marin Halvorsen was close behind with a final score of 172 and a tie for 17th. Wheaton’s fourth and fifth finishers were senior Rachel Goranson, who shot 179, and freshman Ellie Laymon, who shot 187.
Going into the invite, head coach Allison Paluchniak told the Record, “It was one of our last tournaments before conference, [and] we are continually preparing mentally and in our play for our conference championships.”
On Monday, Sept. 25, seven Wheaton golfers competed in the Aurora University Spartan Fall Classic against 10 other teams. The Thunder topped the rest of their competition with a compiled team score of 330 with a 21-point gap between them and the second place finisher, Aurora, who scored 351. Five teams out of the 11 entered in the competition did not finish due to darkness, according to Wheaton’s athletic website.
The Thunder had four golfers finish in the top 10, according to the Wheaton Athletics website. Senior captain Kylie Monson carded 80 and tied for third place, and senior Rachel Goranson finished only two strokes behind her co-captain and tied for fifth. Junior Madeline Birckbichler and freshman Marin Halvorsen both shot 84 to tie for seventh. Freshman Ellie Laymon carded 99 to round out the scoring golfers for Wheaton.