The Women’s Golf Team is starting the season off strong with stand-out performances from Maddy Streicher and Taylor Elam, who both recorded top five finishes at the Simpson Fall Invite.

Streicher finished top five with an impressive two-day total of 163 on Sept. 16. Then, on Sept. 20, she recorded her tenth top five finish at Simpson, along with Taylor Elam, who tied for third overall with a career-best of 78. 

Both Streicher and Elam grew up on the golf course and are very proud of their recent accomplishments. 

Streicher is also proud of her high school career, where she won the conference tournament all four years and she was the runner-up at the state tournament her senior year. This gave her the fight and the competitive edge she has needed to thrive with her career at Simpson. 

She thinks it’s important for any athlete to remember to “take a step back and have more fun with [their sport]. At the end of the day, sports might feel like everything in the moment, but they should be more of a highlight in their college career.” 

Although she is very proud of her scores, Streicher believes that “being a place winner doesn’t matter as much as how [she] feels after lots of tough rounds on the course.” 

For Elam, placing third showed what having fun and going out there just to play can do. She learned that she wasn’t overly focused. 

“When you play relaxed is when you will get good results,” she said. It also showed her potential and what she is capable of bringing to the table for the rest of this season and future seasons. 

Both Streicher and Elam are excited to see where the rest of the season goes. They happen to be neck and neck with a lot of teams, and they want to come out on top.  As a team, they know they are capable of it. 

Head Men’s and Women’s Golf Coach Jeremy Johnson is very proud of the talent that this year’s women’s team possesses. 

Going into his third season at Simpson, there has been an increase in roster size and talent. To ensure that each member of the team is reaching their goals, Johnson believes that “the biggest thing is [for him] to be present at practice every day and being willing to support and work with each person on both an individual and team level.” 

So far this season, there have been multiple team and individual accomplishments to be proud of, most notably, Streicher’s.

“[She] is always juggling a lot of things with her school work; she always has a full class schedule, is in a sorority, and has an on-campus job, but she makes it a point to put in the time and work to become a better player,” he said. 

Elam’s excitement after placing third was fun to see, and Johnson thinks that was just the tip of where she will be able to play for the rest of the season. 

He thinks that all ten players on the women’s golf team are helping each other to continue to get better because they are all being pushed. 

“They are a fun group of girls to be around, they all work hard and play hard, and most of all, they have fun together,” he said.  

The Women’s Golf team will end their season with the conference tournament on Oct. 7, 8 and 9.