Hickstein leads class of incoming golfers

Since winning a state championship in October of last year and signing to continue her golf career at Chadron State College that November, Alpine Hickstein, freshmen of Chadron, will continue her golf career and enter her freshman year at CSC as one of the highest profile golfers the college has signed.
The Chadron native is a four-time district champion and completed her high school career last fall achieving her goal of becoming a state champion after beating the field by more than 20 strokes. Her two-day performance at the State Championship tied an all-class Nebraska record, and her second day score of 70 was one of only five to have ever been recorded and second only to Danielle Lemek’s 67 in 2011.
“We’re obviously extremely excited to have Alpine join us,” CSC Head Golf Coach John Ritzen said. “We think we have a very good recruiting class to add to what Alpine brings.”
One of those things the former Chadron high school golfer brings is surety.
“We know for sure what we’re getting with Alpine because we see her more than the other girls,” Ritzen said. “We see her out on the course practicing. We know the dedication and work ethic that she’s going to put forth and that’s something that’s very comforting.”
Ritzen, who’s class of four recruits will join three returning golfers, knows that at least two of his top five golfers in the coming season will be beginning college golfers.
“We have four freshman coming in and three returners,” Ritzen said. “It’s kind of the same situation as last year. We’re going to have a lot of young girls competing right away and making that jump to our top-five girls.”
This year however, he said, the team will have a lot more competition for those spots.
Coach Ritzen admits you never know what to expect with a young team, but he hopes Hickstein, and the others, will contribute right away.
For her part, Hickstein, who has spent the summer playing in multiple junior tournaments, has been partaking in her prescribed workout and practice regimen.
“All summer long we’ve had a workout schedule and they’ve given us drills we have to do at least twice a week,” she said. “So far they’ve been really good for me and I’ve talked to a couple of the other girls from Colorado. [T]hey’ve said they really like them and that they’re really working out for them and improving their game too.”
Hickstein says she’s kept in contact with incoming freshman teammates Kayla Elder, of Fort Collins, Colorado, Anna Branscome, of Lakewood, Colorado, and Abby White, of Simcoe, Ontario, Canada.
“We kind of did it ourselves,” Hickstein said of the rookie girls contacting one another, “we became friends on Instagram and started [direct messaging] each other. Now we all just kind of talk.”
For all the advantage she gains by having close access to her new coach, Hickstein says she’s not sure what to expect out of her transition to the college level, but says that she’s not been nervous. Her goal for the season is to average a round score of 77.
“I expect my scores to be a little higher,” Hickstein said, noting that at the college level she’ll shoot from the white tees instead of the red shot from in high school, “but I do have a long ball, so I’m expecting to still play well.”
She’s no stranger to the extra distance, however, as she has played from the white tees at times over the last two years.
Another common challenge in making the leap from high school to college golf is the fact that players tend to have an entire year of courses they’re unfamiliar with, but higher level high school golfers like Hickstein and the other girls in her recruiting class have all played junior tournaments in the summer that regularly take them to new courses.
“All of our girls coming in, it seems like the majority of them played in some kind of junior tour and played a lot of summer tournaments,” Ritzen said. “With Alpine, we know what we’re getting, but those other girls also did the same work tournament wise.”
Putting in work is something Hickstein is no stranger to. She’s long been known as someone who wants to be on the course on a daily basis and has no qualms practicing a drill over and over to perfection.
“If [Hickstein] struggles with something in a tournament that’s going to be the first thing she’s going to start working on in practice,” Ritzen said. “She knows her game, which is a benefit. She knows areas she’s strong in and plays to those.”
Coach Ritzen says he hopes the influx of young talent helps the team meet his goal of improving on last year’s performance and finishing higher in the conference, but says that for the girls it’s going to be one step at a time, handling their transition to longer courses and figuring out their game at college level courses.
Hickstein, who’ll study business education while at CSC, is eager to begin her college career, but has been happy to have a break in competitive golf between summer tournaments.
“I got a two or three week break between women’s match play and school,” Hickstein said. “It’s been nice just to be able to do drills and not be traveling across the state; to have some good food in me instead of fast food all the time.”
With all of her success as a junior golfer, Hickstein could have continued her career at any of a number of schools, but staying in Chadron was an easy decision.
“It’s so welcoming,” she said. “Everyone is so supportive and open to working with you whether you’re an athlete or not. I know I can do well here.”