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Cardinal Roster
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Cardinal Statistics
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Cardinal Schedule
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| Upcoming Events: Fri., Sept. 1: SMU men at Macalester dual, St. Paul, Minn. Sat.-Sun., Sept. 2-3: SMU women at UW-EC Invitational, Eau Claire, Wis. |
Replacing All-MIAC performer 1st hurdle for Stimmel
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Who's Hot?
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Jesse
Polk Team best 77.6 avg. |
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Caty
Beel All-MIAC in 2005 |
If Tom Farren has his way, 2006 will be known as "Moving Day" for his Saint Mary's University men's golf team.
Moving on up the conference ladder, that is.
"We've had some pretty talented teams the last couple of years — teams that proved through the course of the season that they could compete the with top teams in the conference — but when it came to the (MIAC Championships), we just couldn't get the job done," said Farren, whose team placed eighth in the conference tournament a year ago, and is still searching for its first top five finish in Farren's tenure. "It's long overdue — it's time for us to live up to our potential and make some real noise."
The reason for Farren's optimism is simple — the return of his top two golfers from a year ago, Jesse Polk (Hastings, Minn.) and Scott Savage (Mahtomedi, Minn.).
"Our guys have played a lot of golf over the summer, and hopefully they can come in and hit the ground running," said Farren, whose team kicks off its season with a dual meet at Macalester on Sept. 1. "Obviously we are going to expect big things again this year from Jesse and Scott, as well as from several of our other returners.
"We return a solid nucleus, and a solid group of incoming freshmen, I think we can turn a few heads this year."
THERE'S A NEW FACE ON THE SMU WOMEN'S GOLF scene — and, unfortunately for that new face, there's also one very important face missing.
Shawn Stimmel takes over the reigns of the Cardinal squad this year, replacing Dan Messmann, who stepped down to pursue other opportunities following last season.
And Stimmel's first order of business is a tough one — find a way to replace two-time All-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference performer Andrea Hanke.
"Not having Andrea back certainly leaves a pretty big void for us," admitted Stimmel of his graduated senior, who shot rounds of 84-85—169 to place sixth in last year's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships. "But we do return everyone else, which is certainly a positive."
Among those returners is Caty Beel (Tucson, Ariz.), who joined Hanke on the all-conference podium a year ago, firing rounds of 84-87—171 to place eighth overall.
"I like the mix of veterans a newcomers that we have and I'm excited about what the season has in store for us," said Stimmel. "It's pretty early in the season, but I think we have the potential to make a move up in the conference — it would be nice to get back into that top four."