Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference

The Royals will be making just their second appearance at the MIAC Championships this season and look to improve on last season's ninth place finish. With much of the team back from last year, Coach Joel Johnson is confident his team will have a stronger outing in 2009. "Our players learned a lot last season and have a much better idea of what the competition is like, and that's important. We've matured as a team - we're being much more deliberate about course management and staying within ourselves, and I really believe it will show."

Paige Lemieux (So., Fargo, N.D.) was Bethel's top golfer last season, and has established herself in the same role through the first three rounds of 2009 as she is averaging an 83.7, with a low of 80 in the D-III Midwest Classic where the Royals finished 12th out of 18 teams. Hannah Hunstad (Sr., Medina, Minn.) and Ellie Wood (Fr., Shoreview, Minn.) will also be a factor in Bethel's scoring as the two are averaging 89 and 90, respectively.

Carleton College enters the 2009 MIAC Championships in the midst of its most successful fall campaign in program history. The Knights have notched a trio of top-five finishes this fall and posted a 335.0 team average, more than 15 shots fewer than last season’s school-record team average.

The Knights have been led this season by the consistent play of first-year player Hope Keaney (San Anselmo, Calif./Marin Catholic), who ranks fifth in the conference with an 81.5 stroke average. She’s been Carleton’s top finisher in each of the first three events this fall. Her performance has helped offset the loss of two-time All-MIAC performer Katrina Wood ’09, who tied for second at last year’s conference championships.

Laura Knutson (Jr./Edina, Minn.) also tied for second at last year’s conference tournament to earn All-MIAC honors, and the Knights will need her to step up if they are to repeat last year’s top-three finish. She ranks in the conference’s top 20 in stroke average at 84.5.

The surprise for the Knights this fall has been the play of junior Louise Buckler (Blaine, Minn./St. Paul Academy) and sophomore Traci Johnson (Lakeville, Minn./North). Buckler has shaved almost nine full shots off her stroke average from a year ago and enters the final weeks of the season second on the team with an 84.0 stroke average. Traci Johnson, meanwhile, has trimmed nearly 10 full shots off her rookie season average and stands at 85.0 for the season. She’s fired six straight rounds under 90 after doing it only twice in 22 rounds a season ago.

“We’ve had an extremely rewarding fall,” Carleton head coach Eric Sieger said. “We’ve outpaced my expectations, and hopefully we can continue that trend at the MIAC Championships.”

Sieger says defending champion Gustavus Adolphus is the team to beat, but four other teams are waiting right behind the Gusties.

“I think Gustavus is the cream of the crop, but it’s a strong crop behind them,” he said. Sieger notes that no less than five MIAC teams rank in the top 32 in the first NCAA/Golfstat ratings. The next-best conference has only three teams in the top 32.

“Gustavus is going to be hard to beat, but to finish in the top three we’ll have to play really smart, solid golf all three days.”

The Concordia-Moorhead women’s golf team enters the MIAC Championship Meet on the heels of one of their busiest, and most competitive, schedules in recent history. The Cobbers competed in six different multiple-team invitationals including several that featured the top teams from the MIAC and the region. Concordia has tasted success in a pair of meets this season. The Cobbers won the UM-Morris Invite and finished second at the Jamestown Invitational.

Concordia is led by junior Hilary Vokovan (Coon Rapids, Minn.) who has an 86.1 average over her nine rounds of play this year. She is coming off her best round of the season when she fired an 80 in the opening round of the Southwest Minnesota State Invitational last weekend. Vokovan has seven of the team’s lowest rounds of the year and will be looking to put three low scores together to get in the hunt for all-conference honors.

The Cobbers have four other players that are all averaging in the 90’s and that group will round out the top five for Concordia. Other than Vokovan, look for Jeanna Kratzke (Jr., Perham, Minn.),  Amy Hintzen (Sr., Sauk Centre, Minn.), Suzi Maanum (Hancock, Minn./Benson HS) and Laura Ayers (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park of Cottage Grove HS) to fill out the top spots at the conference meet. Kratzke leads the quartet heading into the meet with a 93.6 average. The other three are all grouped less than one stroke behind.

The College of Saint Benedict golf teams heads to Bunker with perhaps their deepest lineup to date, looking to improve on their fifth place finish the year before.

Currently ranked 16^th in the nation by Golfstat, the Blazers have recorded three top-three finishes on the season, boasting a 331.43 team average.

Saint Benedict opened the season in Eau Claire at the Doug Georgianni Memorial where the team rode sophomore Kathryn Hauff’s stellar play to a third place finish. The team shot back to back rounds of 335, 330 while Hauff finished in third place individually firing a school record 75 on the first day of competition. The next weekend the team continued their strong play with two second place finishes in Detroit Lakes; both times losing to Division One North Dakota State and North Dakota. Junior Sarah Hupperts finished the tournament in second place with a two day total 160.

In perhaps their best showcase for the potential the Blazers have, the team rallied for a third place finish at the Division III Midwest Classic the weekend of Sep. 20^th. Stuck in seventh after an uneventful first day, the team shot a school record 315, lead by Hupperts’s medalist finish, in passing four schools before settling in fourth. Hupperts’s two round total 154, the second lowest in team history, tied her in first place.

Saint Benedict comes to the MIAC Championships in peak form, having counted on all five players at least once during the season. Hauff, Hupperts, and Senior April Dammann are the veterans for the team and all three have no trouble going low on Bunkers Course. Hauff brings with her an 81.57 average and precision around the greens. Hupperts boasts fantastic ball striking ability and an 81.86 average. Dammann has been the Blazers rock all year, boasting an 83.86 average. A major threat with her ability to birdie or eagle every hole, Dammann’s all around game should boast the Blazers. First-year Molly Knutson has stepped up and over every expectation in her fantastic rookie season. An 84.86 average that includes a round in the 70s, look for Knutson to use her shot-shaping ability to tame Bunker’s course. Junior Nadia Christensen brings with her an 88.00 average and a knack for getting par around the green.

A veteran team riding a wave of confident and with talent to match; the Blazers head into the MIAC Championship ready to make some noise and move up from their fifth place finishes a year ago.