A missed two foot putt, a drive that found the water or numerousfour putts were a few of the mishaps that could have made adifference over the weekend at the Iowa Conference golfchampionships for the women’s golf team.

After four days of brutal competition between the Storm and theBuena Vista Beavers, the two teams finished 72-holes with a scoreof 1355.

Both teams went to a sudden death playoff and the Beavers edgedthe Storm on the first hole by one stroke.

The Storm counting scores on the first hole were all fours, fora first hole total of 16 while the Beavers had two three’s, a fourand a five for 15 strokes.

“We played the best we did all year,” said junior JanelleClaiborne.

This was Buena Vista’s third championship in the past fouryears.

The Beavers and the Storm have won all of the conferencechampionships since 1992, with Simpson taking eight and the Beaverstaking four.

This year was also the first year of the 72-hole format in thewomen’s golfing championships. In the past, the women have onlyplayed 36-holes.

The first two rounds were played at the Bos Landen Golf Resortin Pella where the Storm held a tie with Buena Vista for firstplace after the first weekend of play.

On the first day of play, the Storm was tied for first placewith the Beavers at 368.

Sophomore Steph Schenfeld led the way with an 89, freshmanJessica Harvey with a 91, senior Amber DeRiemacker with a 92 andClaiborne with a 96.

On the second day of play, the Storm once again ended up tiedfor the lead with the Beavers at a score of 721.

Senior Senta Willenborg led the way with an 87, senior KarenSmith with an 88 and Schenfeld and DeRiemacker with a pair of89’s.

Coming into the next weekend, the Storm was looking to pull awayfrom the Beavers.

After the first day of play at Pheasant Ridge Golf Course inCedar Falls, the Storm fell three strokes behind the Beavers,1045-1048.

Schenfeld led the way with a 78, Willenborg with a 79, Smithwith an 84, Harvey with an 86 and Claiborne with an 86.

On the final day of play on Saturday, the Storm made a comebackto tie the Beavers after four rounds at 1355, only to fall in thefirst playoff hole.

The Storm shot a school record and Iowa Conference record 307 totie Buena Vista University.

Willenborg led the way with a 75, followed by Schenfeld with a76 and DeRiemacker and Claiborne with 78’s.

Women’s golf coach, Bob Darrah, said that his team played wellbut it wasn’t good enough to win on this day.

“It’s kind of sad, but it wasn’t meant to be,” said Darrah. “Wehad a lot of chances and we kind of gave it away.”

Darrah was happy that they shot such a low number on the finalday, but felt that his team could have been even lower.

“A score of 290 wouldn’t have been out of reason,” saidDarrah.

The Storm has finished no worse than second the past 12years.

Three Simpson athletes received all-conference honors in theIowa Conference: Schenfeld, Willenborg and DeRiemacker.

Darrah was named co-conference coach of the year, along withBuena Vista’s Tom Bohnenkamp.

This is the tenth time in 15-years that Darrah has been namedIowa Conference Women’s Golf Coach of the Year.

This fall season has been anything but a failure for theStorm.

The team won the Mt. Mercy Invitational, Coe Invitational andthe Loras Invitational.

The Storm has also placed no lower than fourth this fall seasonwith a lot of expectations to come this spring season.

High expectations are anticipated in the spring, as the goal forthe team is to qualify for the Division III championships.