by Jules Gonsoulin
sports editor
After a year severely low on players, the Millsaps women’s golf team has accomplished great success in two consecutive tournaments. In the first tournament of the year, the Lady Majors shot the lowest score in the team’s history. Two weeks later, they did it again. The renewed intensity and success of the team is a testament to the dedication of team captain, junior Lauren Durbin and her peers, as well as the arrival of three key freshmen.
Durbin says the team has improved leaps and bounds compared to her freshman year: “When I started as a freshman, we did not have a strong competitive team. We struggled as a team, but with practice everyone began to grow as golfers.” Durbin also commented on the influence of three freshmen that arrived this season, saying, “This year we gained three freshmen who were more than enthusiastic about being a part of the team.”
The captain explained that Mattie Schwall, Alaina Thurber and Mariah Stewart have brought a new competitive edge to the team with their experience and low scores.
Schwall, a freshman from Manitou Springs, Colo., believes she has the necessary skills to be a young leader on the team. “I think as a freshman, I bring a lot of leadership to the team because of the leadership position I had on the golf team in high school,” she says.
Schwall has been an impressive asset to the team thus far, scoring 83 in the second tournament of the season. She was one of three golfers who scored below 90—the first time in school history the women’s golf team has seen three golfers shoot into the 80s..
The Lady Majors’ golf team is a force to be reckoned with in Southern Athletic Association golf competition, and the women look to continue their successful season in their next tournament at the end of the month. The women will compete in the SAA preview in Murfreesboro, Tenn.