Coach pleased with team’s achievement at Fresno State
Players perform well, despite little practice time
Coach Erin O’Neil noticed an improvement from sophomore Emily Powers, especially after Tuesday’s showing at Fresno State. The Jayhawks finished third place overall at the Invitational.
Thursday, February 28th, 2008
Coach Erin O’Neil said before the spring season that sophomore Emily Powers was improved and poised to do well. It is now easy to see why.
Powers finished second overall as the Jayhawks finished third at the Kitahara Invitational at Fresno State Tuesday.
“She played great,” O’Neil said. “She stood strong and, even looking at the updated scoreboard, didn’t falter.”
Powers would have finished first if not for a birdie on the 18th hole by Tulsa’s Taylor Siebert. With a sixth place finish in their first tournament and now a third place finish, O’Neil looks forward to continuing improvement.
“I’m very pleased with how we did,” she said. “We were a little nervous the second day, but the season looks very promising.”
O’Neil is also proud of how fresh the team has looked without almost no practice at all.
“I think we’ve hit balls outside once for about a half an hour,” she said. “So to be in first after the day one was a good position to be.”
Freshman Meghna Bal, after leading after the first round, finished with a tie for 13th at 5 over par. Fellow freshman Grace Thiry rounded out the Jayhawks three top-20 finishes with a tie for 20th place shooting a six over par. With only two tournaments under their belt for such a young team, senior Annie Giangrosso, who shot a 10 over par finishing in a tie for 37th, is excited for what the rest of the season will have in store.
“Overall the weekend was a success,” Giangrosso said. “The team does a great job of adjusting and we’re pretty confident of our abilities.”
Giangrosso has also seen what Coach O’Neil saw in Powers.
“She’s a leader who leads by example and is pretty quiet on the course,” Giangrosso said.
Giangrosso, who has been with the team for three and a half years, is the only senior traveling with the team and understands the stress that it can bring.
”There is the added pressure that I sometimes feel I should be playing the best,” Giangrosso said. “I just keep on helping the freshmen adjust to the courses and try and post a consistent score,” she said.
With the Jayhawks off until March for the Betsy Rawls Invitational, Coach O’Neil understands the team’s success will pay off down the road.
”This was a good confidence builder, we try to treat every tournament like the NCAA regionals,” she said.
—Edited by Madeline Hyden
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