My Championship Experience is a
diary blog written by Summit League student-athletes detailing their
experiences at each of the 19 Championships.
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Western Illinois sophomore Ashley Jeffers writes about her experience at the 2013 Summit League Women's Golf
Tournament:
Saturday, April 20,
2013
It was a day of travel for the
Leatherneck women’s golf team. We were
leaving our
Sunday, April 21,
2013
I woke up this morning at 8:30
a.m. and went down to get some breakfast with my teammate Kelsea Visalli. We didn’t have to leave the hotel until 11:45
a.m. because we weren’t playing until our 1 p.m. shotgun start, but breakfast
closed at 9 a.m. Since I woke up so
early I couldn’t go back to sleep, so I stayed up and worked on a paper that I
have to email to my professor Monday night.
We got to the course around 12:15 p.m. and warmed up for our practice
round and started on the ninth hole at 1 p.m.
After we played all 18 holes, it was 6 p.m. and we rushed back to the
hotel to change for The Summit League banquet.
The banquet was being held at the golf course at 7:30 p.m. that evening. After dinner, they announced the awards for
First and Second Team All-Summit League, and then we finally left the course. By the time we got back to the hotel, it was
9 p.m. but coach was at her coaches meeting.
We finally had our team meeting at 10 p.m. and then my teammates and I
had a short meeting without coach just to talk about the coming days. Shortly
after that I finally had time to relax and catch up on my schoolwork.
Monday, April 22, 2013
Today was
the first day of competition. Kelsea was
the first to tee-off for our team. After getting to sleep in a little, we went
down to get breakfast before it closed.
After breakfast, we got ready and took off for the course. We got there around 10 a.m. and Kelsea
(Visalli), Alexa (Arent) and I started warming up because we were the first
three from our team to play. The course
wasn’t playing too long, but it was tight and just got windier as the day went
on. As a team, we didn’t play at all
like we had hoped to. It didn’t help
that our 18 holes had become a six-hour round.
After we played, I went to the range for a little bit to work on my
swing because I was not happy with how I played. I was happy my mom was
Tuesday, April 23,
2013
Today, the women were to tee-off
first with the men to follow. Alexa was
the first to tee off at 8:45 a.m. Since
we wanted to get to the course at 7:45 a.m., I got up at 7 a.m. in order to get
everything together. When we got to the
course, it was freezing and drizzling.
Every competitor was in rain gear and had their umbrellas up. It was quite a shock to have it be raining
and in the 40’s while in Texas in the middle of April. As we were warming up, the rain started to
hit harder and the wind picked up. The
rain didn’t stop till about my fourth hole, but it stayed cold and windy all
day. Today’s round took at little over
five hours, which was much better than our six-hour round on Monday. As a team, our scores were better overall but
we still weren’t happy. We were in sixth
place; only three shots behind Oakland.
Since we played in the morning, we had some free time in the
afternoon. Half the team had family in
town so those with family went with them and the other half went shopping and
then out to dinner. We all got together
again at 9 p.m. to have another team meeting.
Wednesday, April 24,
2013
Today was the last day of the
league tournament. Once again, the women
were behind the men, so Alexa didn’t tee off till 11 a.m. and the rest of us
followed behind her. It was a little
cold in morning, but most of us were in our skirts and shirts by the turn. It was still a pretty windy day, but I think
we can all agree as players that we would rather have wind then rain and
wind. The final round was once again a
long round: six hours. I couldn’t help
but think about how long of a day it would have been if we had to play 36 holes
like last year. It would have easily
been a 12-hour day. My entire team ended
up getting done by 5:30 p.m. and after a quick dinner at the course and
changing, it was time to pack our clubs in the travel bags and then repack the
van. We were on the road by 6:30 p.m.
and our flight out of Dallas was at 8:40 p.m.
While on the road we found out that the team overcame Oakland and placed
fifth. We also found out that Emily got
fifth place individually. Coach was
planning to drop us off at the airport with our stuff so that we could check it
and then she could turn the van back in.
While driving into the airport, we looked to our right and saw Air Force
One sitting on the tarmac. Come to find
out, President Obama had just flown into the airport for the George W. Bush
Presidential Library opening in Dallas. After
we checked our bags, we went through security and we got through security faster
in Dallas than anywhere else. Luckily
for us, our plane was on time. We ended
up getting into St. Louis at 10:30 p.m. We
now had the three-hour drive back to Macomb.
By the time we got back to town and unloaded the van and got back to my
dorm, it was 2 a.m. Needless to say, I
was pretty tired for my Thursday class. Even
though the tournament didn’t go as planned, it was still a good trip.
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Don’t forget to check out the next
editions of My Championship Experience as it follows the Softball and Men’s and
Women's Track & Field Championships, May 9-11, and throughout the 2012-13 season for
coverage at each of The Summit League Championships.
