IU heads to East Lansing for tournament

Wallman is a run at the Big Ten Championship.

With three returning seniors and two talented freshmen in the top-five, expectations for the 2009-2010 campaign are as high as ever.

Coming off a sixth place finish in the Big Ten Championships and missing the NCAA Tournament has the Hoosiers wanting a return trip to postseason play.

“We need to play well at Big Ten’s, I want to win a conference championship, and this is my last year,” senior Laura Nochta said. “I need to step up and I think that my teammates know what to do to get it done.” 

The first step in achieving that goal begins this weekend when the Hoosiers open up the 2009 fall portion of its schedule at the Mary Fossum Invitational in East Lansing, Mich. The field includes preseason No. 7 Purdue as well as the No. 20 Michigan State Spartans.

“It’s a strong field on a national level,” Wallman said. “It’s a golf course that we’re very familiar with, having played the Mary Fossum and Big Ten Championships there, and our goal is to go up there and win the tournament.”

The tournament will take place at Forest Akers West Course, Michigan State’s home course, with 36 holes on Saturday and the final 18 holes on Sunday. The Hoosiers did not play in the Mary Fossum Invitational last fall, but the three seniors played in the tournament during their sophomore seasons, finishing in second place.

The fall schedule is crucial in deciding at-large bids for the postseason.

“The fall is a big deal because it counts and is our version of the RPI,” Wallman said. “We were disappointed with how we finished last year, but that is behind us.” 

Pamelea Burneski and Jacqueline Yanch will make their freshman debuts for the Hoosiers this weekend.

“They have played a lot of junior golf competing internationally and nationally, and they are really talented,” Nochta said.

Kellye Belcher, Anita Gahir and Nochta have played in almost every tournament they have been eligible for since they set foot on campus in the fall of 2006. With three veterans and two of the more heralded freshmen in the Big Ten for the Class of 2009 (Burneski was No. 71 in her class, according to Golfweek), Wallman holds the same expectations as his seniors when it comes to team goals. 

“I think they are ready to challenge at the Big Ten level,” Wallman said. “They are not looking to finish third or fourth – they are taking dead aim at the top.”