In the first tournament of the season, junior Priscilla Schmid led the IU women’s golf team to a seventh-place finish out of 15 schools in Albuquerque, New Mexico, on Tuesday afternoon.
Individually, Schmid played the best during the three-round, two-day event after shooting seven under par. She opened Monday shooting a 71 in the morning and a 68 in the afternoon, followed by a 70 in the final round Tuesday.
Of the 87 golfers who participated in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational, Schmid finished tied for second individually and was the only golfer that posted under par (72) in all three rounds.
IU head coach Clint Wallman said he believes her consistency is not a fluke.
“I saw a lot of maturity,” Wallman said. “Priscilla handled herself really, really well. She didn’t make a lot of putts early on, but she hung in there, stuck with it, and did a really good job.”
For Schmid, the key was to keep things as loose as possible.
“This week, I was not trying to overthink anything,” Schmid said. “I would focus on the positives, so I wouldn’t start getting stressed and nervous about a bad shot.”
Freshman Anni Eisenhut, sophomore Alexis Miestowski, juniors Angela Aung and Mary Parsons represented the Hoosiers for the tournament. Parsons posted a four under par in her second round, which tied Schmid for the best round by IU. The team finished 11 over, while senior Elisa Pierre finished 11 over as well, playing individually.
The tournament featured strong programs including Pepperdine University and champion Kent State University, among others.
“Playing in a tournament like this against this competition is a great measuring stick,” Wallman said. “There’s definitely some stuff we have to work on, but there’s a lot of optimism.”
Next on the plate for IU is the Cardinal Classic at Ball State in Muncie, Indiana. The Hoosiers will send freshmen Hannah Tanaka and Valerie Clancy and sophomore Arushi Singh there to compete. The team looks forward to improving their young talent Wallman mentioned, while the top golfers get ready for the tournaments soon after.
But for now, Wallman is taking each match one step at a time.
“We have a lot of fire power," Wallman said. "We just have to be consistent. We’ll get there."
