CSC golf team ties second-best round ever

Chadron State women’s golf tied its second-best two-round score in the program’s history and were two strokes away from tying the team record, Tuesday, at the Swan Memorial Tournament in Denver.

Head Women’s Golf Coach John Ritzen said the team started off slowly but rallied past nerves and tough shots throughout Tuesday.

“What really impressed me was we really had some big numbers on holes,” He said. “When we started out, I really thought it might be a pretty bad day and they all recovered really well and got in a good rhythm and controlled their emotions that way. It’s very easy to let it snowball when you have a bad hole and you get down on yourself. That’s what I was the most pleased with, we had kind of a rough start and then we ended up having one of our best days in Chadron State history.”

Leading the Eagle golfers was Alpine Hickstein, junior of Chadron, who placed 10th at the tournament after shooting for 78-78-156.

“Personally I felt like I played better Monday than I did on Tuesday,” Hickstein said. “My irons were crisp, and my driver was solid. I gave myself a lot more birdie putts Monday, but I just couldn’t get anything to fall for me. Tuesday, I was scrambling a lot more for par and I was making some decent putts to save my round.”

Two Eagles set personal bests as Allison Acosta, freshman of Oro Valley, Arizona, shot 80-83-163 and Kenzey Kanno, freshman of Mitchell, shot 87-78-165.

Chadron State placed fifth out of nine teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. Monday’s and Tuesday’s tournament marked the first competition for Eagle golfers since early March.

“It was exciting, the girls were very excited and a little nervous,” Ritzen said. “It’s been a long time since we played tournament golf. This is the largest group we’ve ever taken on the road. We didn’t know if this day would come, but it’s here and we hope it’s here to stay so we can build on what we did this week and move forward through the fall season.”

The Eagles will prepare for the Yellow Jacket Fall Classic, Sept. 28-29, in Spearfish, South Dakota. After a strong start to the season, members of the Eagles golf team have confidence moving forward into their fall schedule.

“Being able to shoot our second-best round ever in the first tournament of the season shows that we have a lot of potential,” Hickstein said. “We have the best team that CSC Women’s Golf has ever had, and we are ready to prove it.”