By DACODA MCDOWELL WAHPEKECHE, Sports Editor
Northwestern’s golf teams start with the women’s season opener on Feb. 22 and the men’s opener on March 1.
In 2020, the season ended after the Diffee Ford Lincoln Invite golf tournament hosted by Southern Nazarene University. Future golf tournaments were canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The golf teams usually compete in the fall and spring semesters, but this year, the season was delayed until the end of February.
For the women’s team, sophomore Angela Egger said the fact that the season was cut short is disappointing.
“I was so excited to play in some of the tournaments last year,” Egger said. “We were finally doing well. Everybody was having a good time.”
Although the team’s fall 2020 season was canceled, Egger said team members were able to focus on practicing and their education.
Ashley Watts and Allison Riddle joined Egger on the Northwestern’s honor roll lists. The university announced its honor roll lists on Jan. 26.
“It was nice to just focus on practicing rather than going to tournaments and missing all kinds of classes,” Egger said.
This season, the women’s team consists of three freshman, four sophomores and Watts, the only senior on the team.
On the men’s side, half of the team consists of upperclassmen.
Juan Gui Angarita, a junior business administration major from Colombia, a nation in South America, said his goal is to improve his game in each tournament he plays.
“As a team, we have been growing,” Angarita said. “We have a pretty good team to fight for something. Golf is a team sport. I mean, yeah, I want someone to win the tournament individually, but we play for the team and Northwestern.”
Tyler Berryhill, Ben Baker and Brendan Kates will hit the courses this year as seniors for the Rangers.
Nikole Donk leads the Rangers in her first season as the head coach of the golf program.
The golf teams will compete in six tournaments for their spring 2021 season.
The women’s golf team will start at the Spring NSU Women’s Classic in Broken Arrow. The men’s team will start its season at the Natural State Classic in Cabot, Arkansas.
The men’s and women’s golf teams will compete in the Great American Conference Championship in Hot Springs, Arkansas, at the Hot Springs Country Club on April 20.