Women's Golf | September 17, 2018
KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Western Michigan women's golf team begins its third season under head coach Elise Swartout-Mosher when the Broncos travel to Yorktown, Ind., for the Cardinal Classic, hosted by Ball State on Monday and Tuesday at The Players Club.
The 16 team tournament features the host Cardinals along with Bowling Green, Bradley, Central Michigan, Cleveland State, Dayton, Evansville, Illinois State, Indiana State, Ohio, Purdue, Fort Wayne, Southern Illinois, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Indianapolis, and Western Illinois.
WMU's fall schedule features two brand new tournaments, with the team heading to Iowa for the Diane Thomason Invite and the Lady Blue Hen Invitational, hosted by Delaware. Also new to the schedule this year is the Bradley Spring Invitational in March.
"I'm really excited about our schedule this year," said Swartout-Mosher. "We've made quite a few changes, which I think is going to be good for us play in a handful of new tournaments. I think it's going to be challenging and refreshing for us."
Heading into the third year, Swartout-Mosher is looking for continued improvement.
"I think we are well on our way," said Swartout-Mosher on her expectations for the program. "I think we still have some big steps to take and I'm okay with that taking time, but I am super excited about this group. These six ladies have already shown their excitement, their determination and their ready and willingness to work hard."
Two of those golfers being depended on to help raise the expectations are senior Claire Hernandez and junior Jasmine Chee. Hernandez enters her final year as the leader of the team.
"Claire and I have had really good conversations," added Swartout-Mosher. "She's the most driven on this team when it comes to getting better and improving her scores. Claire wants to come through her senior year and play her best golf. She has such a passion for this game. It is amazing to see every practice, every qualifier and every tournament I have seen her play in the last few years, she is excited to be out there even if she doesn't get the results she expects."
Chee had the second lowest average on the team last season, averaging 77.96 per round.
"I think Jasmine has proven over the last two years she's proven one of the most consistent players on the team," said Swartout-Mosher. "She has shown she can go out and shoot scores when we need her to. I think she's the person we can lean heavily on when we need to produce. I know I can put her in those tough situations and pair her with those talented players to challenge herself and get those scores we need."
Cameryn Lucia and Megan Watkins both enter their sophomore seasons after averaging 80.08 and 80.95, respectively. Joining the team are freshmen Brooke Gibbons and Fiona Wang.
"Brooke and Fiona have already brought a lot," said Swartout-Mosher "It feels like a breath of fresh air with the two of them. They bring laughter and a lot of fun to the team. From a golf perspective I think they are going bring challenge. They're going to challenge the other four to hit the good shots when they need. They're not going to back down to the other four."
Next up for the Broncos is the trip to the University of Iowa and the Diane Thomason Invite on Sept. 29-30.
