Harvard Claims 19th at Regionals

This time of year is a busy time for most Harvard students as the year comes to a close. For members of the Crimson’s women’s golf team, the weeks leading up to the end of the semester period are no different.

With especially full schedules after missing school during their recent victory at the Ivy League Championships, the Harvard female golfers found time to practice a bit harder to come by recently than they probably would have liked. The busy academic workload and limited practice time caught up to the team this past weekend, as the Crimson placed 19th out of a 21-team field at the NCAA Central Regional Championship in Columbus, Ohio, matching its performance from a year ago.

“We definitely struggled this weekend,” junior Claire Sheldon said. “I don’t think we struggled from a lack of preparation because we prepared as much and as best we could. We just have not had that much time to practice recently.”

Totaling the scores of its four best performers on each day, Harvard shot rounds of 318, 323, and 338 for the three-day affair on the par-72 course.

Senior Emily Balmert led the Crimson’s efforts this past weekend at the tournament held on the Scarlet Course on the campus of The Ohio State University. She shot rounds of six, seven, and eight over par, finishing with 11 pars on the final day of competition.

“It was a tough weekend for us,” Balmert said. “We did not play as well as we would have liked or probably as well as we could have based on our performances this year. We are a little disappointed, but I don’t think this weekend can erase the strong year that we did have.”

Sheldon had Harvard’s only birdie in the final round of the event. She ended the day with a score of 87, while senior Ali Bode matched her with a score of 15 over par as well. Freshman Christine Cho registered the Crimson’s second best total on Saturday, as she shot an 87, while sophomore Mia Kabasakalis finished with a round of 93.

Harvard needed a top-eight finish in order to advance to Nationals, a feat that the Crimson felt was indeed attainable with a great performance this weekend.

“We were hoping things would come together this weekend, and we would do something special,” Sheldon said. “While top eight may have been a bit ambitious, I think it was a good goal for Harvard to have.”

The second-ranked Bruins of UCLA won the tournament by 19 strokes over the Boilermakers of Purdue.

Despite the struggles this weekend, the Crimson believes it is headed in the right direction for next year, as it attempts to stay atop the Ivy League for a third consecutive year.

“The team has gotten stronger every year over the past four years,” Balmert said. “We have amazing depth, as you could take any five of us to any tournament and get a similar result. That type of team can withstand the test of time, and our recruits next year will be great additions.”

Sheldon echoed the graduating Balmert’s words on what to takeaway from the regional tournament this weekend.

“This was our second time at this regional tournament, and I feel it can act as a huge learning experience for us,” Sheldon said. “We can gain a great message from this event, and while it will be tough to recover next year with the three seniors that we lose, I feel next year has the chance to be a really fun year for us.”

—Staff writer Thomas D. Hutchison can be reached at tdhutch@fas.harvard.edu.