CSC golfers return to the green
Chadron State golfers begin their drive through the green, returning with the same roster as last year.
The Eagles golf team started practice with a fundraiser, Friday, followed by qualifying play, Sunday, which will determine who the team’s top five girls are after playing through the holes at Ridgeview Country Club.
“They have to handle the pressure from the get-go,” Head Women’s Golf Coach John Ritzen said. “It’ll be interesting. Once we watch them play a little bit, we’ll start to get into some certain things we want to improve on.”
Due to the sport taking place in both the fall and spring, the golfers don’t get to come back early like other fall sports and start practicing.
The most they practice is over the summer, receiving stuff to do from Ritzen and having to find the time to get it done.
“Last year, we had a great season; we just didn’t have a finish in our conference tournament that we hoped for,” Ritzen said. “For a lot of our girls, that was their first tie at a conference tournament.”
Ritzen said that the high-pressure situations like conference tournaments and handling those situations will be an area of big improvement this year due to the experience that the golfers now have.
“I know they’ll all improve,” Ritzen said. “It’s just how much did we improve over the summer.”
Ritzen is hoping to see a season unaffected by COVID-19. Luckily, golf was only largely affected with travel and testing, due to the spread-out nature of the outdoor sport.
Without the tests and regulations, there won’t be an extra layer of stress on whether an athlete will be able to travel based on their test results. The golfers will be able to focus on golf instead of worrying about COVID.
Alpine Hickstein, junior of Chadron, led the Eagles through all 17 rounds of their last season. Hickstein had an 18-hole average of 78.8 and 36-hole average of 157.3. She tied for 17th at the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Championship meet in Litchfield Park, Arizona.
“Looking at it, this should technically be my last year,” Hickstein said. “It’s an honor to be a collegiate athlete, especially an Eagle. I’m going to take everything in and enjoy it. I’m excited to see what we can do this year.”
Brooke Kramer, sophomore of Aurora, Colorado, shot an 18-hole average of 84.5 and a 36-hole average of 167.0. Kramer played in all 17 rounds of the 2020-21 season and tied for 30th at the RMAC Championships.
Kinsey Smith, junior of Windsor, Colorado, finished the season with an 18-hole average of 83.6 and a 36-hole average of 167.0. Smith played in all eight tournaments and tied for 41st at the RMAC Championships.
Kenzey Kanno, sophomore of Mitchell; Allison Acosta, sophomore of Oro Valley, Arizona; Anna Branscome, junior of Lakewood, Colorado; Jordan Grasis, junior of Yuma, Arizona; and Josie Rush, sophomore of Philip, South Dakota; are all returning to golf for the Eagles.
“It’s great having the same girls as last season,” Hickstein said. “It’s a pleasure to be on a team with such a great group of girls. Hopefully, we can get a few freshmen next year to help the team out and add more options for scoring in tournaments.”
Many Eagle golfers placed their best for the 2020-21 season at the Yellow Jacket Fall Classic, best placements in their season.
“As a team, we are hoping to have more consistent scoring and having a few more girls shooting in that mid to upper 70s,” Hickstein said. “That will bring out team score down a lot and we will break a lot of our records if we can do that consistently.”
CSC’s women golf team will begin competing Sept. 13 and 14 at Swan Memorial Golf Tournament in Thornton, Colorado.
The schedule consists of four fall meets and two spring meets before they will be competing in the 2021-22 season RMAC tournament.
“I’m looking forward to getting back on the road and having a normal season,” Hickstein said. “The girls are all ready to start traveling and playing tough courses.”