After growing over the last few years, the Wesleyan golf team has started the spring season strong. One newer arrival to the team is Meg Wiley ’22, a POSSE Veteran from Indiana (by way of San Diego). The women’s golf team is excited for its inaugural season this upcoming fall, and Meg is a big reason for that. The Argus had a chance to sit down with her and talk about her background, the team, and her first year at Wesleyan.

The Argus: Where are you from, and what’s your major?

Meg Wiley ’22: I was born and raised in Indiana, though I haven’t been there in over a decade. I’m a first-year planning on doing a double major in CSS and psych, and I have my associate’s degree in psychology from San Diego Mesa Community College.

A: How did you choose Wesleyan?

MW: I’m part of the POSSE program, so I have a scholarship. I was planning on going to Berkeley, but I applied and got the scholarship and chose Wes.

A: How are you liking Wesleyan so far?

MW: I love Wes! I really get along with all the students, I have a lot of friends, the golf team is amazing, I’m on WSA, I really feel super involved and like I fit in here.

A: What else are you involved in?

MW: I’m a member of the Student Life Committee on WSA, and I’ve been trying to get metal straws on campus. I actually just got approved for funding for that from the Green Fund, so that’s really exciting! I also just got accepted for a sustainability internship this summer, so I’ll be here working in the Sustainability Office. As a part of the veteran’s organization (POSSE) we do events, and we just did a Q&A with a panel. I’m looking to get involved with the Wesleyan Refugee Project, because I want to start my own nonprofit for refugees founded on mental health and sustainability. I stay pretty involved.

A: How did you get involved with the golf team?

MW: I started playing golf when I was 19, and I knew I was coming to Wesleyan, and I knew I wanted to play golf for Wes and was really hoping it was a Division III school so that I could do that. When I saw I had an opportunity, I emailed the coach and he reached out to me and Saadia [Naeem ’20] reached out to me, and within the first couple of weeks I was on the team and playing with them.

A: Have you liked being on the team so far?

MW: I love it! It’s a family, everyone’s really close, all of us hang out after practice, and I love how encouraging everyone is. We have some great captains—Saadia and Elliott [Witdorchic ’20] are amazing. Our team camaraderie is really strong.

A: Do you have any goals for the season?

MW: My first couple tournaments (in the fall) were kind of rough; it was my first time actually competing, and this is playing golf in a different sense than I have before. I put a lot of pressure on myself to play well even though I try to keep the mindset that I’m here to have fun. It’s definitely a game, and when you can go into it knowing that, your head is in so much of a better place, rather than getting anxious when it comes to performing. In the fall, my goal was to improve from tournament to tournament, and I absolutely did that. I took like 76 strokes off of my combined total from one weekend to the next. My goals for the spring, with Williams coming up, is to improve my score significantly from the last time we played at Williams in the fall. Moving forward my goal for next fall is to definitely break 100. My scores are still kind of up there, I’m probably averaging in the 120s right now and I want to break 100 by fall and I definitely think that’s possible. I’m coaching at a club this summer for kids, which will be fun, and I’ll have lots of time to practice. And a long term goal is that by the time I’m a senior, to get into the 70s.

A: I think you can do it, with the improvements you’ve shown—how did the scrimmage this weekend go?

MW: It was a lot of fun! The first hole was a little rough, I was in my head, I had some good practice days but then a few not as good and I was anxious and in my head and boofed a couple of my shots a bit. I had a couple of really great shots also. I almost had two holes in ones! So that was pretty epic. That definitely made me feel better. Personally, I know I can keep the ball down, I know I have good shots, for me it’s just a matter of getting out of my head and realizing it’s just fun.

A: What do you like about the competition?

MW: My team is always there and even playing with the other schools, everyone is super supportive. I was shocked at how all the girls are super supportive. There’s great sportsmanship, everyone encourages each other, and I got to play with some really cool people. It’s always a great day to go out in golf. I’m addicted to the sport. I also got selected to the all-sportsmanship team for the NESCAC, and I was proud of that and blown away. I’m continually surprised by how supportive everyone is and how excited they are for me to be there because I am just as excited to be there with them and always have felt like one of the team, never like an outsider.

A: Anything else you want to tell Argus readers?

MW: I wanted to emphasize that I’m not a conventional athlete compared to most of the athletes at this school. I was in the Navy for 7 years then I went to school for cosmetology, then I was a flight attendant, then I stopped and wanted to come to school. My diverse background has helped me out with the team. It’s helped me adjust to coming into Wesleyan and connect with a lot of people. My experience with the Navy and knowing what it means to be on a team in that sense has felt like something I could add to the team. Also, we are so blessed to have Jon Wilson as our coach! He’s amazing, and he’s doing a lot for our team.

 

Emilio Weber can be reached at eweber@wesleyan.edu.