SMC Golf: Finally champions: After many close calls, Belles finally take home MIAA Championship
By KATIE McVOY
Associate Sports Editor
It was seven years in coming.
It was filled with frustrating finishes.
Ultimately, it was worth it.
On Saturday, the Belles finally found what they were looking for. It took a second place finish early in the season to give them the motivation they needed, but that motivation catapulted them to their first MIAA Championship.
"It's been long in waiting and we finally got it," Liz Hanlon said. "We deserve it."
Behind the lead of course medalist Julia Adams, Saint Mary's turned in a performance that was good enough to give the team first place at the MIAA Championship meet, more than 10 strokes ahead of second-place finisher Hope.
The win was what Saint Mary's had been striving for since its disappointing third-place finish last season.
But what is even more important is the short amount of time it took this team to be successful.
Seven years ago, Saint Mary's had no golf program. Now it not only has a golf program, but it has an MIAA Championship, a course medallist and a chance at a bid for the NCAA Tournament.
"It feels great to finally win," said sophomore Stefanie Simmerman. "I don't think we could have asked for a better year to win it. We put in a lot of hard work the past couple of years and we've gotten a lot coming from having no program to having a conference title within seven years."
Adams led the Belles charge at Zolner Golf Course in Angola, Indiana. The sophomore had a two-day total of 161 strokes, just one stroke ahead of last year's medallist, Alma's Courtney Rheinhardt.
Adding to the Belles team score were Simmerman, freshman Megan Mattia and Hanlon. Both Simmerman and Mattia finished in the top 10 —Simmerman in fourth with 165 strokes and Mattia in fifth with 171. Hanlon finished off the weekend with a 182 total.
This season started off with a bang for the Belles when they broke the Saint Mary's team record in their opening season tournament.
With that win, the goal of first-year head coach Mark Hamilton to win the MIAA Championship didn't seem too far out of reach.
"Our coach has been talking since the spring when we interviewed him that his goal would be to win the conference championship," Simmerman said. "We kept our goal the entire season."
But when the first MIAA tournament came around, things didn't go quite so well. The Belles finished in a tie for second place, not quite where the record-breaking team wanted to be.
But the second place finish gave them the boost they needed to carry on through the season.
"I think starting out we were tied for second and it kind of gave us more drive," Hanlon said. "We still had the goal to get that first place finish."
Last season, the Belles took home first place in the first conference tournament of the season. After that tournament, they just couldn't get back to first.
"Not winning our first match this year really gave us the momentum to go forward and work hard for the conference champsionship," Simmernan said. "It gave us something so that we didn't start of with really big heads, showed us that there were going to be challenges along the way."
With the MIAA championship under their belts, the Belles still have work to do. An NCAA bid isn't guaranteed.
Saint Mary's will play in one final tournament, again at Zolner Golf Course, on Saturday. DePauw, ranked fourth in the nation in Division III women's golf, will be the toughest competition.
"Our main goal is to beat DePauw," Simmerman said. "They're ranked fourth in Division III teams. If we beat DePauw the NCAA should look at us and hopefully they'll say `Let's give them a chance.'"
All Sports Stories for Monday, October 7, 2002
