After a successful end to the season last year, the IU women’s golf team is coming into the 2019 season looking to accomplish even more.
The Hoosiers placed second in the Big Ten Championship and 21st in the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship, the best they have finished since 2010. Heading into the new year, IU looks to build off that experience.
New to the squad is freshman Anni Eisenhut, who committed to the Hoosiers from Grunwald, Germany. She has shown success before, being ranked as high as 340th in the World Amateur Golf Rankings.
Juniors Mary Parsons and Priscilla Schmid and sophomore Alexis Miestowski are the top returning golfers, so the talent has not left the program. However, one aspect of the team is going to be brand new, according to head coach Clint Wallman.
“Well, we’ve got a whole new staff this year,” Wallman said. “But they’ve been great jumping right back into things with the golfers starting in August.”
Gone is associate head coach Lauren Harling, who accepted a head coaching position at Yale University this summer. Harling was with IU for 10 seasons as a coach and a player for the Hoosiers before earning the head coaching position. Wallman said she has been much more than just a name on the Indiana roster.
“Coach Harling was quite literally like having another head coach on staff,” Wallman said. “Having a quality person like coach Harling for the past eight years on staff left a huge mark on the program,and we would not be where we are without her efforts.”
With the steady voice of Harling gone, Wallman will look to new associate head coach Lauren Whyte for extra guidance.
Whyte recently played collegiate golf for Baylor University and the University of Denver and coached one year at Mercer as a graduate assistant before landing her new position in Bloomington. What separates Whyte from the rest of the coaches is her experiences as a golfer.
“Coach Whyte brings a huge playing pedigree to the program,” Wallman said. “Having played in the National Championship finals is an experience which cannot be replicated. That, along with her background playing for the Scottish National Team, will bring a fantastic on-course presence.”
Despite the turnover on the coaching end, coach Wallman enters his 17th year as the head coach of IU women’s golf. His experience and calm mentality will continue to encourage his golfers to shoot as low as possible.
The Hoosiers will begin the fall season in New Mexico this Monday and Tuesday as they compete in the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational.
Schmid, Miestowski, Parsons, Eisenhut, as well as junior Angela Aung and senior Elisa Pierre will play for the Hoosiers. They will tee off against 14 other schools, including host New Mexico and fellow Big Ten members Iowa and Nebraska.
“Our goals will alter throughout the season," Wallman said. "But something like controlling the controllables and keeping it loose are things that we will preach throughout the year."
