As Wesleyan warms up for springtime and the year winds to an end, our Cardinal golf team has been busy wrapping up their season. With two tournaments this past week, the men’s contingent of the co-ed team has wrapped up competitive play. The women’s portion of the team is gearing up for their last tournament of the year, which will take place this weekend. 

The men’s competition included the Williams Spring Invitational, which served as a makeshift NESCAC Championship. Nine of the eleven NESCAC schools competed, and Trinity took the championship with a one-shot victory over Williams. Wesleyan had a tough weekend, finishing ninth out of the schools competing.

There were certainly some bright spots over the weekend. Noah Cate ’22 finished in 32nd place with a combined 158, including a first day 75, the best score any Cardinal shot that weekend. Captain Elliot Witdorchic ’20 finished second among his teammates, with a combined 170, good for 45th at the tournament. Walker Harris ’20, Bryan Chong ’21, and Chris White ’19 finished lower in the pack.

Another bright spot of the weekend is that all the competitors, save for White, will be returning next season.

Witdorchic is excited about the future of the team.

“With the new recruits coming next year, we should be in really good position,” he said.

The Little Three Tournament—the annual competition between Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan—took place on Tuesday, April 23, at Amherst Golf Club. The match play format did not pan out very successfully for the Cardinals, as they lost 11.5-0.5 to Williams and 12-0 to Amherst. Harris and White rescued the lone half for Wesleyan against William Conyers and Wyatt Khosrowshahi of Williams.

Despite the loss, Witdorchic had positive feelings about the weekend.

“I think we played well overall, and we earned some points for the second year in a row,” he said.  

Captain Saadia Naeem ’20 also competed at the Little Three, and was the lone woman representative of the team to play last week. She and Chong competed together.

“The tournament went really well for me personally,” Naeem said. “I played some of my best golf and stayed competitive with the Williams player I was competing against for most of the match.”

As the women’s team grows in the fall, they will be competing in more women’s tournaments around the Northeast as they continue to build up the strength of the program. Fall 2019 will be the first season the women’s team competes as its own entity and not as a part of the current co-ed golf team. Right now, the Wesleyan athletics site does not differentiate the competition of the men’s and women’s portions of the teams; instead, the recap, results, and roster links take you to the same pages, rather than separate pages for men’s, women’s, or co-ed competition.

Three members of the team this year, Naeem, Emma Mehta ’20, and Meg Wiley ’22, will be returning, and all are looking to improve the team, their individual performances, and the program as a whole.

The fall season is the premier one for golf in the NESCAC and across America as a whole, as the weather is better, the courses are in better shape, and more tournaments occur. The NESCAC championships are in the fall as well. Going forward, the team hopes to round into peak form as the fall season comes up.

Witdorchic is looking forward to the fall season for the men’s team as the Cardinals continue to improve and become more competitive.

“I think the team has made a lot of progress over the course of the season,” he said. “Our playing has improved throughout the spring, and our practices have become more cohesive and organized. This year has been great, and we’re all looking forward to next year as well.”

 

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