Kayla Springer | The Echo
Another year rolls around bringing the start of another season for the men's and women's golf teams at Taylor. As both teams gear up for what appears to be two great seasons, head coach Cam Andry and his players are excited for all that the year has to offer.
After losing only one senior this past year, the men's team has a large pool of experience and talent to utilize in the coming season. The team is composed of a hardy group of upperclassmen, including seniors Nathan Edwards, Jordan Hall, Seth Neal and Ian Rinken and juniors Mitch Lamping, Josh Stimmel, Trey Turner and Nick Waskom. The team is rounded out by sophomores Alec Dutkowski and Jeremy Ray as well as freshmen Scottie Marston, Noah Miller and Nate Morris.
With the help of Dutkowski, a third-team All-American last season, and Turner, winner of the Crossroads League Championship, as well as two other tournaments last season, the men's team enters the season ranked 21st in the NAIA Coaches' Top 25 Poll.
With a great deal of returning talent, Andry and the team want to make sure not to get caught up in results: "I know we're going to have a chance to win every event we play in, but our goal is to enjoy the process of getting better." The head coach also added that the team will have many experienced players down the lineup and hopes each player will embrace competing for his spot every day.
Lamping has similar feelings, stating that the team is very deep this year and pretty consistent overall.
"We have good senior leadership, we have good young guys, and everyone is buying into the process," Lamping said. "We're always having fun as a team which keeps us pretty loose even during tournaments. We're just confident and ready to go tackle the season."
While this will be Andry's sixth season as head coach for the men's team at Taylor, this will be his first official year as the head coach of both the men's and women's golf teams. However, he is not overly concerned with the challenges this new opportunity will present:
"I have really enjoyed coaching both teams thus far," Andry said. "There are unique challenges, and I know players on both teams have had to adjust, but I think things are going well. I'm excited to see the programs grow together, and I feel like we can be one big family."
The women's golf roster reveals a great deal of youth, as the team returns just one senior, Brittany Pfaff, and one junior, Grace Elenbaas. The rest of the squad is composed of two sophomore returners, Raquel Helton and Elizabeth Jackson, and four freshmen: Alexis Harris, Lauren Murphy, Annie Stimmel and Maddie Thomas.
However, what this team lacks in experience they do not lack in talent. Andry feels that this is more talent than the women's team has ever had, which brings out the best in everybody as the team competes for spots.
"I really love the personality we have as a group," said Andry. "I think our youth isn't really a weakness, but we need our young players to quickly get acclimated to the college game. Our main goal is just to enjoy the process of working hard and getting better each day."
Pfaff echoed her coach's thoughts: "Our biggest strength is that we could have many different ladies playing in our top 5 positions in each tournament. In previous seasons it has been a pretty set lineup, but this will make us even better as we are competing for tournament spots at every practice."
Pfaff also added that the women's team came out firing this past weekend at the Indiana Wesleyan Invitational, setting a school record. Stimmel and Thomas finished fifth and tied for seventh, respectively, out of 59 women, leading the close-knit team into what they hope will be one of the best seasons ever.
The men will tee off for the first time this season today and tomorrow at the Huntington Invitational, while the women will enter their second contest of the season at the Spring Arbor Fall Classic on Monday, September 19.
"Photograph provided by TU Sports Information Department"
