The Illinois State womens golf team will travel to Bloomington, Ind. April 3-4 to participate in the Indiana University Womens Golf Invitational held at the Indiana University Golf Course.
The Redbirds are coming off a third place finish in the Saluki Invitational, where they battled all eight Valley schools. With the season now in full swing, the Redbirds begin to face their toughest competition of the year. At the Indiana Invite, six of the top 50 nationally ranked teams will be competing, as well as strong representation from the Big Ten. In addition, every team is ranked among the top 150 teams in the nation.
Head coach
Ray Kralis feels that although the individual scores at the Saluki Invite didnt reflect a lot of progress, he chalks it up to a tough weekend of golf. He and the team are excited about facing a tough field in Bloomington.
We are pumped up about the field over there, Kralis said. As weve grown as a team, I think weve shown and continue to believe that it is no longer about the names on the bags. We will not be intimidated about who is there. We will go in and handle the things that we can control and stay focused.
Kralis has been trying to find the right group of golfers to put up the best numbers, as well as a group that functions well as a team. This weeks group will be led by sophomores Samantha Richdale and Ashlie Rose. Richdale and Rose have played in all 23 team rounds this season. Along with the talented sophomores, senior Albiona Zhubi, junior Katie Laehn, and freshmen Hilary Anderson and Chelsea Bach will be making the trip to Indiana.
This tournament will serve as a measuring stick to see how the Birds stack up against nationally ranked competition. Kralis knows that he has a confident group and is looking for a strong showing to set his team up for the rest of the season.
The best fields can bring out the best in us, Kralis said. This is going to be a great weekend. It is certainly one of those marquee majors that everyone is excited about. I still see a lot of positives and still feel we are in good shape. The difference between our scoring last week and where we need to be is very small.
The first round of the Indiana University Womens Invitational tees off Saturday, April 3, at 7 a.m. and concludes on Sunday, April 4.
