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Oct. 4, 2008Central's Paulson captures league championship
DES MOINES—Central College freshman Sarah Paulson (Ottumwa) showed a veteran’s poise Saturday, pulling away for an 8-shot victory in the Iowa Conference women’s golf tourney. Paulson finished with a league record-tying 72-hole total of 76-71-81-78—306. Defending champion Steph Burns of Wartburg was second at 75-81-77-81—314. Paulson tied the mark set by Buena Vista’s Jen Stork in 2006. It’s a Central school record as well.
Central tied for second in the team standings, its highest finish since 1993. The Dutch were sixth a year ago. Central finished at 325-323-359-336-1343. Wartburg breezed to the title at 315-319-327-329—1290 with Luther sharing second at 333-331-345-334—1343. Friday and Saturday's rounds were played at Blank Golf Course in Des Moines.
Central’s Eva Downes (junior, Woodstock, Ill., Marion Catholic Central HS) finished seventh at 79-79-86-87—331. Both Paulson and Downes received all-conference honors and Paulson was also named the league’s player of the year. Dutch coach Jodee Schaben shared conference coach of the year honors with Wartburg’s Monica Severson.
Abby Lukensmeyer (freshman, Hampton, Hampton-Dumont HS) was 15th at 86-80-94-86—346 with Nicole Wenstrand (sophomore, Essex) 21st at 84-96-98-85—363 and Allison Crooks (sophomore, Moline, Ill.) tied for 23rd at 90-93-98-95—376.
Schaben was disappointed in Central’s Friday showing. But while the Dutch lost their 2-stroke advantage over Luther Saturday, Schaben left enthused about Central’s 23-shot improvement over the previous day.
“Today was much better,” Schaben said. “The team as a whole was much more solid. Luther’s strength is experience. They have four seniors and any one of their five players can shoot in the low 80s on a given day. I give great credit to them. They played solid golf.”
Paulson saw her lead in the medalist standings shrink to 5 shots Friday but was cool under what Schaben described as pressure-packed conditions Saturday.
“As a freshman, to be able to withstand that amount of pressure and to not get down when things didn’t go her way was very impressive,” Schaben said.
“What an amazing freshman year. And the exciting thing is it’s just the tip of the iceberg as far as what she can become. She’s a great all-around player and what I really like is that she’s very team-focused. She’s more concerned about helping the team reach its goals than her own individual accomplishments.”
With no seniors in the lineup, Schaben is enthusiastically looking ahead but also taking time to celebrate the season.
“It’s been such a successful season,” she said. “We’ve had a lot of firsts and a lot of personal bests.”