2008 CCIW Women’s Golf Championship Preview

NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Springbrook Golf Course in Naperville, Ill., will be the site of the October 3-4 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Women’s Golf Championship, hosted by North Central College.

Tee times begin at 8 a.m. Friday, October 3 with Illinois Wesleyan, Wheaton, Millikin and Augustana set to go in the first wave, followed by North Central, Carthage, Elmhurst and North Park teeing off in the second group at 9 a.m.

Illinois Wesleyan is going for its seventh straight conference title dating back to the 2002 season, and is coming off a fourth place finish at the 2008 NCAA Division III Championship. The fourth place finish was the Titans’ best finish in school history. The team was recently ranked fourth in the latest national rankings by Golf World Magazine.

The Titans have three returning all-conference players in Alessandra Bollero (Palm Beach, Fla./Cardinal Newman) (second in the individual standings at last year’s championships), Erica Woodall (Normal, Ill./University) (sixth) and Nicole Spear (Naperville, Ill./Central) (tied for seventh). At the recent Millikin Fall Classic, Illinois Wesleyan placed first out of 17 teams as Woodall and Lindsey Haines (Crete, Ill./Marian Catholic) placed in a tie for fifth with a two-day total of 157.

Wheaton made the jump from fourth place in 2006 to second place in 2007. The Thunder return four of their top five finishers at last season’s championships including Brittany Bronson (Bend, Ore./H.S.), Rachel Beveridge (Santa Barbara, Calif./Dos Pueblos), Kate Ryan (Zionsville, Ind./H.S.) and Jenny Speckman (Rockford, Ill./ Rockford Christian). Bronson and Beveridge tied for 11 th last season while Ryan was 13 th and Speckman was 14 th. Poor weather conditions have kept the team from competing since September 9 when the Thunder took part in the North Central Cardinal Classic, taking second place out of 10 teams. Bronson was the team’s top finisher with a score of 85 to place fifth. Speckman carded an 86 to place to place eighth.

Millikin has placed third in each of the last two championships and this year the Big Blue have two returning all-conference players in Katie Gifford (Westerville, Ohio/Olentangy) and Brittany Hassee (Greenwood, Ind./H.S.). Gifford finished tied for seventh while Hassee was ninth at last year’s championship. Both Gifford and Hassee finished up their regular season as the top two scorers during the Big Blue’s Fall Classic on September 27-28, held at Red Tail Run Golf Course in Decatur, Ill. Gifford finished tied for 16 th with a two-day total of 162 while Hassee was 20 th with a score of 165.

Augustana’s Rachel Gahn (Edina, Minn./H.S.) was a third-place finisher during last season’s championship and has followed that up with an impressive 2008 so far. Gahn has placed in a tie for third at each of her last two events including the North Central Cardinal Classic on September 9 and the St. Ambrose Classic on September 20-21. She carded a one-day total of 84 at North Central and a two-day total of 159 at St. Ambrose. Heather Arizpe (Schaumburg, Ill./Conant) was a 13 th-place finisher at St. Ambrose with a two-day score of 170.

North Central finished fifth in the standings last season, but had the individual medalist in freshman Alyssa Gaudio (Western Springs, Ill./Lyons), as well as the CCIW Coach of the Year in Tye Thompson last season. Gaudio took home the individual title with a two-day score of 153, just edging out Illinois Wesleyan’s Bollero by one stroke. The Cardinals recently placed seventh out of 13 teams at the DePauw Small College Classic, held September 27-28. Mallory Carr (Joliet, Ill./Minooka) was the highest individual for North Central, placing in a tie for 13 th with a two-day score of 162.

Carthage recently took seventh out of 17 teams during Millikin’s Fall Classic last weekend. Sarah Joers (Waukesha, Wis./West) finished in a tie for second after shooting an impressive two-day score of 156. Katie Ramirez (Darien, Ill./ Hinsdale South) was tied for 35 th with a score of 173. Ramirez finished tied for 14 th at last year’s championship with a score of 169.

Elmhurst recently placed ninth at Millikin as Abby Gammage (Farmer City, Ill./ Blue Ridge) was the Bluejays’ top individual with a two-day score of 170 and a tie for 27 th place. Emily Labrecque (Battle Creek, Mich./ Lake View) shot a 171 to tie for 31 st. The Bluejays will host its own invitational on September 30 before embarking on Naperville for the conference championship.

Like Wheaton, bad weather conditions in the month of September has kept North Park off of the golf course as the Vikings have not competed since the Carthage Invitational on September 12. The Vikings will take part in the Elmhurst Invitational as a final tune-up for the conference championship. AshleyWaddell (Mt. Prospect, Ill./Prospect) finished in a tie for 25 th place at Carthage with a score of 94. Colleen Horgan (Crystal Lake, Ill./Prairie Ridge) shot a 95 to finish in a tie for 27 th place.