Hoosiers open season with IU Fall Kickoff

The Indiana women’s golf season opens on Saturday as the Hoosiers begin at home with the IU Fall Kickoff. IU will open their doors to DePauw, Franklin College, Indiana State, IUPUI, Southern Indiana, Valparaiso, IPFW and Christian Brothers University.

“This tournament serves as an extension of our qualification process heading into the season,” IU Coach Clint Wallman said. “It puts us up against real opposition and gives us a chance to look at how we perform.”

The Hoosiers will split up into teams for the event.

“We divided up into a Crimson team and a Cream team,” Wallman said. “We had six intra-squad rounds and various other competitions where the girls started separating themselves into a top five and a next five.”

The Crimson team consists of sophomore Elizabeth Tong, senior Pamela Burneski, freshman Marissa DeCola, graduate student Kristen Schelling and senior Kate Coons.

The Cream team is made up of senior Rosie Davies, junior Sophie Hayashi, freshman Maria Mancini, freshman Eva Schoenwald and sophomore Kamryn Klawitter. Sophomore Sarah Dusman will compete as an individual.

Tong is coming into her sophomore year after a strong freshman performance in which she tied as the team’s top finisher at the Big Ten Championships, placing 40th. She also finished tied for third on the team in scoring average on the year at 77.2 strokes per round.

“This year, I expect Elizabeth to step up into a leadership role through her play,” Wallman said. “Last year she made huge strides in the maturity of how she plays the game. She added a lot more seasoning to her game. She now has one more year of experience to grow on.”

One new addition to the roster is Kristen Schelling, a graduate student who transferred from UNLV this year. Wallman says he hopes Kristen has adjusted to life at IU and looks forward to having Schelling on the team.

“Obviously there are those natural changes when you switch schools,” Wallman said. “Where are my classes? What’s OnCourse? That sort of thing,” Wallman said. “But, you know, she knows golf and has experience playing it at a very high level. We’re excited to have her.”

Schelling is just one of five new golfers on the team.

“That amount of turnover has left us with a lot of new personalities to put together,” Wallman said. “A huge asset for us is the increase in competitive value. The competition for playing time has increased dramatically.”

This is the event’s second year of existence, with last year’s winner being Davies, who returned this year for her senior season.

“We have a lot of players capable of winning this year. Any number of them can do it,” Wallman said. “We had a different leader after each round of our team qualifier. That depth will be one of our biggest strengths moving forward this year and I see this team getting much better as the year progresses.”