Another year, another set of highly competitive golf tournaments where student-athletes strive to land a spot on the five-person team to represent California Baptist University as they compete.
For the CBU men’s and women’s golf teams, 2014 brings seven tournaments to be played throughout the course of the spring semester with the hopes of advancing to the national tournament. For the men’s team, the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s national tournament will be held in Allendale, Mich., while the women’s NCAA Division II Nationals will be located in Conover, N.C.
While both teams are currently in the qualifying stages of the season, they are eagerly anticipating a successful round of tournaments in the spring.
In order to qualify, each player must compete against the rest on their team to claim a spot on the list of five women and five men who will go on to represent CBU at the NCAA national championship. Those not among the five chosen will have the chance to move up as the semester continues.
“The pressure, it’s heavy,” said Marvi Monsalve, freshman business major.
Monsalve said the typical pressure of being an individual in a tournament is multiplied because the college team depends on each other to do well.
To recap the fall 2013 semester, Fredrik G. Hansson, senior business major, explained the men’s team made its mark but specifically did well at the Guy Harvey Invitational in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., where CBU came in fourth out of 16 teams.
“We played against all East Coast teams and probably won’t see those teams again unless we’re fortunate enough to play at nationals, which I’m pretty confident about,” Hansson said.
The men’s and women’s head coach, John Hackney, began to coach the teams last semester but has already received respect from his players.
“Both the head and assistant coaches are really nice,” Monsalve said. “Both try to motivate you and build confidence. They push us, they try to cheer you up on hard days and they are both really funny.”
CBU will host a women’s tournament on Feb. 24-25 and men’s tournament on Mar. 24-25.
