Hickstein sets CSC record in fall finale

Alpine Hickstein, sophomore of Chadron, tied for fifth place at the Samuel Proal Invitational tournament, leading the Eagles with a score of 74-78-152 to set the CSC record in 36-holes, Tuesday, at the Pueblo Country Club in Pueblo, Colorado.

Ally Malzahn first set the record with 153 though 36 in 2007 and was later tied by Kelli Haynes in 2015. 

Head Women’s Golf Coach John Ritzen said Hickstein was the team’s number one golfer last year and she established herself for that position again this year.  

“That’s a direct reflection of how hard she works over the summer,” Ritzen said. “There’s no one in the conference that puts as much work in as Alpine does and the scores reflect it. Those that put the time in are going to have lower scores and she does that.” 

Brooke Kramer, freshman of Aurora, Colorado, placed in the top half of the tournament, tying for 23rd of 57 golfers, scoring 81-83-164. 

Kinsey Smith, freshman of Windsor,

Colorado, finished 30th with a score of 84-84-168, and Allison Acosta, freshman of Oro Valley, Arizona, was a stroke behind Smith, shooting 81-88-169.  

Kenzey Kanno, freshman of Mitchell, scored 84 her second-round on Tuesday, improving from her Monday score of 91 and finished at 175. 

“This last week was a great way to end our fall season,” Hickstein said, “We all played well, but didn’t show our best golf. We showed our toughness on the course when things weren’t going our way and stayed positive through the two rounds.” 

Chadron State placed fifth out of 10 teams, scoring 320-329-649. Westminster College took first with the score, 315-306-621.  

“We all know what we need to work on during the offseason,” Hickstein said, “CSC women’s golf is showing that it is becoming a successful sport and we haven’t reached our best yet. We are going to prove that CSC women’s golf is nothing to snicker at.”  

The Eagles finished their fall season with this tournament and will return in the spring for the MJGA Collegiate Tournament, March 5-6, 2021 and the Warrior Invite, March 8-9, 2021, in Las Vegas. 

 “We’ll have a little break now,” Ritzen said. “With our condensed schedule this semester, we don’t have a lot of break. We’ll start up next week and put a little more focus on our strengthening and conditioning time. Then we’ll get into some swing technique stuff that we might need to improve on. We don’t really change anything with the swings. We don’t want to mess with that while we’re trying to compete, but now’s the time that if there’s something we need to adjust, then we can do that.”