photo provided by Emilee Strausburg

The Trinity women’s golf team has one regular-season tournament left before the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC) championships, which will be played during the last week of April. To prepare, the Tigers will head to Georgetown, where they will face teams from across the state in the West Region Invitational on Monday, April 1.

Emilee Strausburg, senior and team captain, said that the Tigers have been getting ready for the tournament through creative practice routines.

“I have tried to incorporate team workouts and games into our practices. For example, if someone makes a bogey during our practice rounds, they have to do a one-minute plank. We also do a chipping game where the winner chooses a quick exercise for everyone else to do. So far, it’s been a great season with the team, and I see the team bond growing everyday,” Strausburg said.

To kick off the spring season, the Tigers competed in the Schreiner Spring Shootout, in which the team finished in second place overall. Additionally, first-year Raquel Hill funished in rst place.

“I think our strong performance was backed up by our strong support for each other. Going in, we knew that there were only three teams to compete against, meaning we had a relatively good chance at winning. I think because of our bond, we wanted to play well for each other as well as for ourselves. As for my individual win, the main factor was my goal to play better than I had last semester. ere was no pressure on me to do well, so I went in with no expectations,” Hill said.

As a first-year, this fall season was Hill’s first as a member of the Trinity team.

“I chose Trinity because of the team atmosphere. I observed that the girls were very close and supported each other very much, and I wanted an environment like that. Both Carla and my captains were very helpful with adjusting to school life. ey are always there to help and give me honest and open answers to my questions and concerns,” Hill said.

Strausberg has been impressed with the overall performance of this year’s group of first-years.

“They bring a strong game and even stronger bond between each other. It’s been so great to see all their personalities work together and become friends outside of the team. I see them as a great base going forward in creating a united golf team,” Strausburg said.

Following the team’s success at Schreiner, the Tigers traveled to Phoenix, where they competed in the George Fox Westbrook Invitational. Overall, the team placed 10th while Strausburg carded a 157 to earn 24th place, and Hill placed in a tie for 29th. On the second day of play, Strausburg improved her score ve strokes for a 5-over-par 76 in the final round and brought herself up by nine places in the rankings.

“I was in a much better mental place the second day. I really just enjoyed golf in the second round. I learned to love where I am and wanted to do the best I could for my team,” Strausburg said.

Looking ahead to the West Region Invitational, Hill hopes that the team will gain insight into the upcoming conference tournament.

“I think our next tournament will help us get a feel for the girls we will be up against at conference. We will be able to see how the other girls play and base our practice time and effort off of them,” Hill said.

Carla Spenkoch, women’s golf head coach, will lead the team to her 21st conference tournament. So far in her career, her teams at Trinity have won three conference championship victories in 2014, 2016 and 2017.

“We are preparing for conference pretty much the same way as our other tournaments. We are practicing a lot on short game and playing as much as we can,” Spenkoch said.

For senior Strausberg, this will be her final conference tournament.

“We are practicing and playing a lot at the Quarry and have been working on being more unified and supportive of one another. It makes the bad days better and the best days even more wonderful. As a team, I want us to just keep playing our best and building our team unity. I know each and every single one of us is capable of winning a tournament and crushing our own golf goals,” Strausberg said.