The Westminster women’s golf team opens the 2015 fall season on Friday at the Wildcat Invitational. The 18-hole event is being hosted by Weber State University and will be played at Davis Park Golf Course.
The Griffins take to the course under the direction of first-year head coach Jenteal Jackson. After working as an assistant coach with the program the past two seasons, Jackson was promoted to head coach of the women’s team last month. She takes over for Chris Hendrickson, who still leads the Westminster men’s golf team.
Westminster returns four golfers from last year’s squad that won the Frontier Conference regular season title. Greta Schnider is the only junior on a team with no seniors. Schneider didn’t play in any events last season, but she had an average round of 91.4 in 2013-14.
Ashley Dechant is back for her sophomore season after playing 17 rounds as a freshman last season. Dechant averaged 85 strokes per round as a freshman and posted four top-10 finishes in nine events. She was named the Frontier Conference Freshman of the Year and first team all-conference.
Erin Tabish also returns after being named second team all-conference in the Frontier Conference as a freshman. Tabish played in nine events with a stroke average of 87.8 per round. She recorded one top-five and two top-10 finishes. Audrey Kriss is also back after playing in nine events as a freshman. Kriss averaged 88.1 strokes per round with one top-10 finish.
The Griffins welcome three freshman to the squad this season in Katie Felice (Price, Utah), Kalle Lunsford (Evanston, Wyoming) and Karen Valcare (Bountiful, Utah).
Westminster begins its first season as a member of the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference this season. The Griffins will compete in their first RMAC event on Sept. 14-15, at the Black Hills State tournament being held in Longmont, Colorado.