Indiana University Athletics
Tournament Diary: Laura Nochta
10/3/2006 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
Oct. 3, 2006
Throughout the 2006-07 season, members of the Indiana women's golf team will be reporting their tournament travels for IUHOOSIERS.com. Freshman Laura Nochta chronicled the teams' travel to the Wolverine Invitational.
"This weekend we traveled to the great state of Michigan for the Wolverine Invitational. We were all really excited to play because we had been practicing in the conditions that we would be facing this weekend throughout the week. We were pretty prepared with two tournaments under our belts, and the team knew what to expect.
Friday was our practice round and we took a really good look at the course. To my surprise, the course layout was identical to how we had set practice up that week. I realized that we practice difficult shots for the reason that we could be faced with them during the tournament. After our round, we had a team meeting to discuss the day and our goals for the event, ate dinner and went to bed.
The next day, Saturday, was the first two rounds of the tournament. My parents came to watch me, and I was really excited to see them. It was a 9 a.m. shotgun start, so we arrived at the course early enough to stretch and warm up. We were playing in a decent spot, and I think everyone was ready and excited to begin play. The weather wasn't the best and the forecast called for cold temperatures and rain all day, but luckily the rain held off most of the day with just occasional showers. We got the first round completely in. I played well, shooting a one-over par 72. I tried to keep my good momentum going, but it was shut down by the bad weather that came along late in the second round. Thunderstorms rolled in and the rest of the round was postponed until the following morning.
Sunday was our final day in Michigan. My parents were there again to cheer me on, along with my uncle, who came up from Columbus. It was nice to have such a great support system there. We were happy with our position and were looking forward to another successful day on the course. We started again at 9 a.m. and finished up the second round and went straight into the third. I struggled with my second round, posting a 78, but came around with a 76 on the final round to finish tied for seventh place individually. The team had another winning record at the tournament by placing tied for fourth. We packed up quickly and returned back to Bloomington that night.
The team is really coming along. We are all so close to dominating! Everyone has a lot of talent and we are just waiting patiently for all of it to come out in each and everyone of us. We look forward to working hard the next two weeks before our next trip to New Mexico.
The team and the coaching staff have been really supportive to me and the other freshman (Kellye and Anita) and we all feel like we're part of a big family! It's nice being away from home, but still having the presence of "family." School is going well. I'm still overwhelmed by how time consuming homework, studying, classes, practices and workouts are. Plus you still have to have fun! I'm having a great time so far and can't wait to keep traveling and being a part of the college experience."
