Miranda Smith, Campus Carrier Asst. Sports Editor
Berry men and women’s golf finished Monday and Tuesday’s tournaments with momentum for the rest of the season. The men’s team traveled to Montgomery, Ala., to compete in the Wynlakes Intercollegiate tournament, where they led both Rhodes College and Birmingham-Southern College. The women’s team traveled to Memphis, Tenn., to compete in the Rhodes Invitational and defeated Rhodes by two strokes.
The women’s team was led by senior Karley Hammond and freshman Chloe Wegienka, who tied for second individually with a +9, 155 in two rounds. Sophomore Loren Kim finished tied at sixth with a shot of +12, 158. Freshman Morgan Collins ended up finishing up 8th with a +13, 159 and junior Jorie Hodapp finished in ninth place with a +15, 161.
The men’s team finished fifth at the Wynlakes Intercollegiate tournament on Tuesday. Freshman Preston DeSantis and freshman Seth Jolly tied for 16th place, where they both took off three strokes in the second round to jump seven spots up. They both ended up shooting +5, 149. Freshman Wesley Heston finished in the top 25, with his final score being +7, 151.
Heston described how Tuesday’s tournament will motivate the team and push them to be in the top spots in the conference.
“It gives us some confidence that I think we needed,” Heston said. “This event was probably our best finish since early last semester. We have some important events to finish the season to try and get a spot in the national championship. Winning conference has also been a year-long goal, and this is a great stepping stone to that.”
Hammond discussed how the invitational will be accounted for going into future competition.
“I’m incredibly proud of the way all of my teammates competed this weekend and put together two great days of golf,” Hammond said. “It is important to celebrate success on the golf course, but there are still some areas in course management that we need to improve on in order to prepare for conference. We are excited about our success and we are using that success as momentum going into the final stretch of the season.”
Hammond said the win at the Rhodes Invitational is a great advantage point in working towards the SAA Conference Championship. The win gave the team confidence and motivated the team for another victory.
Jolly also explained how the team is preparing for future competition with Tuesday’s team and individual performance.
“Our finish at Wynlakes was a very important accomplishment for our team,” Jolly said. “We beat five teams that were ranked better than us, one of which (Rhodes) is in our conference. We certainly aren’t complacent with our fifth place finish at Wynlakes. We know we are good enough to finish strong and possibly win conference, we just have to keep practicing and sharpening our skills for conference.”
Jolly said that in order for the team to jump to a top contender, they must analyze and identify issues and address and adjust to change up the game plan to prepare for Rhodes in the near future.
The women’s team will compete at the BSC Spring Invitational on April 15-16, before preparing for the Southern Athletic Association (SAA) Championships on April 26-28. The men’s team will travel to Memphis, Tenn. to compete at the Rhodes Spring Classic on April 15-16 also before competing in the SAA Championships.