Men’s golf finishes third at Manhattanville

Both the women and men’s golf teams kicked off their spring season this past weekend traveling to Vassar and Manhattanville Colleges respectively. For the women, this tournament marked the first of three weekend long tournaments which will determine NCAA qualifications for the golfers. The men traveled to Manhattanville to compete in the first of three tournaments before the NESCAC Championships, which are to be held at Middlebury’s golf course the weekend of April 30.
The women’s team came out of this tournament in fifth place. Williams won the 12-team tournament with a two-day total of 686 while the Panther finished with 717 points. Flora Weeks ’12, a golfer who attended nationals last year, took second place overall with a two-day score of 165 just two strokes behind Kimberly Eaton of Wellesley College.
Keely Levins ’13 was the next highest finisher for the Panthers, coming in 20th place with a score of 178. She was followed by Caroline Kenter ’14 in 29th place with 185 points, and Jessica Bluestein ’11 in 34th place with 189 points. According to Kenter, the long winter had a serious affect on the quality of play in this past weekend’s tournament.
“It was most team’s first match of the season so everyone is still warming up,” said Kenter. “Once our course opens up this weekend we’ll be able to hit outside. Hopefully that will improve scoring next week at Amherst.”
The men opened up their spring season in New York by finishing third out of 10 teams competing. Only Skidmore and SUNY Delhi were able to outplay the Panthers who finished out the fall season by winning the NESCAC Qualifying tournament.
Andrew Emerson ’13 finished first out of the Middlebury players in eighth place with a two-day total of 153 points. In 12th place, just one stroke behind Emerson was Jim Levins ’11 and Brian Cady ’11 both with scores of 154. Finishing up for the Panthers was Max Alley ’14, shooting 171 and finishing in 51st place.
“There were certainly some shots that could have been improved upon, but we have a few weeks to work on those aspects to be ready for the NESCAC championships,” said Levins
Like the women, the men’s team was a little rusty as this was the first time they have competed outside. Golf is one of the few sports that relies so much on the weather in order to practice. It is also more difficult for Middlebury to compete because the school is located so far north and the winters are much longer.
“Our team needs to get outside and start experiencing some pressure,” said Cady. “We only have two more events before the NESCAC championships, so we are going to need to make practices very focused as to not let the big event sneak up on us. The team vibe is very good after our spring break trip down to Pinehurst and we are all on the same page as to our dedication to golf this spring.”
The team has only three weekends left  in the season before the NESCAC championships. According to Cady, the team’s goal for the tournament is to come away with the championship.
“This will by no means be an easy feat, but currently the team is on the right track to be in a position where we are the best prepared team we can be,” said Cady. “While still a pipe dream, the next step after NESCAC’s would be to make statement at nationals. We qualified for nationals two years ago on our home course, and I would be very excited if we could do it again.”