After hot fall start, IU gets back into swing

The hottest team on the IU campus last fall might have been the women's golf team. The only thing that could have cooled the squad off was the three month break due to winter. The team finished the fall season with a sweep at the Mission Inn Classic in Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla., winning the team competition and the first, second and third individual finishes. IU toppled the 17-team field while junior Karen Dennison won her third medalist title of the fall.\nThe team will return to Florida to open its spring season at the Central District Invitational. The tournament will be held Monday and Tuesday in Parrish, Fla. The 54-hole event will combine 15 teams, most deriving from the Big Ten and Big 12 conferences.\nIU's five players competing at the Central District Invitational will be senior Cara Stuckey and juniors Ambry Bishop, Dennison, Danah Ford and Mary Lidester, who was the lone Hoosier to break into the top 25 last year in this tournament. Scoring for the Central District Invitational will be five players with the low four scores counting in each round.\nThe latest Golfweek/Sagarin ratings released Feb. 16 have the Hoosiers ranked No. 19 in the nation following their win at the Mission Inn Classic. IU is the second highest ranked Big Ten team behind No. 15 Ohio State. The Hoosiers though have the 71st toughest schedule in the country. \n"The field is going to be really strong for this tournament, and we haven't seen a lot of them. They try to invite the top teams in the district here, and it really makes a solid field," IU coach Sam Carmichael said. "Some of the teams have already got some second half tournaments under their belt so we'll have to make some adjustments and just hope for the best." \nDue to the weather this winter in Bloomington, the team has practiced indoors, working mostly on conditioning and their swings.\n"We're going to be at a little bit of a disadvantage going into this event, due to the fact that other teams have played recently," Bishop said. "Some members of the team have actually gone down to Florida over the break to play and get some outdoor work in, so it shouldn't be too bad."\nDennison agrees that the competition will be tough, but that the team's victories during the fall season will allow the team to better handle the field.\n"We know we have some confidence, and we know we can win. Especially with our last tournament, we won pretty convincingly," Dennison said. "This tournament might be tough. The teams from the south have an advantage because they can play pretty much year round, but I don't foresee it being a big problem. We know we can play with the best of them and we will"