Men's and women's golf win Ivies

An Ivy League title is something every Princeton team dreams of and few actually achieve. Out of those that have claimed the Ivy crown, even fewer can boast multiple victories. Yet the men's and women's golf programs have both garnered several Ivy championships over the years, with their most recent addition coming last weekend.

For the men's squad, this win gives the team its fourth Ivy League title in five years, far outnumbering any of its opponents. Princeton finished the three-round tournament in Jackson, N.J. at 925 (310-305-310), beating out rival Penn, who finished in second place at 942, by 17 strokes.

Sophomore Jason Gerken gave Princeton the extra boost it needed to hold onto first place. Gerken, who was the individual winner of the tournament with a score of 225, played an especially important role in keeping the Tigers' score down on Sunday to evade a creeping Penn squad.

Freshman John Sawin tied for second place with Cornell's Kevin Scelfo and Columbia's Matthew Wong five shots back. Senior Greg Johnson finished at 11th place, while sophomore John Locke and junior Creighton Page rounded out the Princeton five at 19th and 24th, respectively.

"We were able to put forth a real team effort, with all five players contributing to the scores," head coach Will Green said.

These hard-earned team and individual achievements were especially impressive given the difficulty of the Metedeconk Golf Club, which was as much of a foe to the players as the opposing teams were.

"The course was playing really difficult this weekend," Green said. "Hole locations made it tough to score, and windy conditions added to the challenge. But fortunately, our players were able to minimize mistakes better than the other teams, and we were able to manufacture pars or bogies whenever we were in trouble."

All that scrounging and digging paid off in the end for the Tigers, as they not only walked away with the team and individual titles, but also two All-Ivy nominations for Gerken and Sawin.

"It was nice for our team to play well and get a big lead going into the final round," Gerken said. "From there we limped home, but it was good enough to win. We knew we were the best team in the field, and we proved it by taking back the trophy."

The win bodes well for the Tigers as they prepare for NCAA regionals, which will take place in New Haven in a month. Though the challenges in May will undoubtedly be greater than those faced last weekend, the team is eager to demonstrate its talent.

"If we can put together a couple of weeks of good practice and get ourselves into the right mindset at regionals, I'm convinced we have a talented enough team to give ourselves a chance of advancing," Green said.

Yet the men will not be alone in representing Princeton golf on the national stage, as the equally talented and accomplished women's team will also be heading to NCAAs after their win at Ivies last weekend.

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The Tigers, who came out 13 strokes ahead of second-place Yale, finished the three-round tournament with a total of 947 strokes to defend their 2003 Ivy League title. The win was particularly remarkable considering the team trailed Yale by 12 strokes at the close of the first round. Though it was behind on Friday, the inspired squad came back on Saturday and shot a 313 in the second round. That gave them a three-stroke lead entering the final round. The Tigers played their best golf when they needed it most, posting a tournament-low round of 309 in the final round to win the title.

Chiefly responsible for the victory was junior Avery Kiser, whose 226 total score earned her the individual title. This win for Kiser places her as the only player to win the individual Ivy League title three years in a row, an incredible accomplishment. She is a talent that the program is proud of and will no doubt continue to exploit as long as Kiser swings for the Tigers.

Junior Taryn Halady was the next Princeton finisher, tying for second place with a 241. Freshmen Sharla Cloutier and Alexis Etow tied for fifth, giving the Tigers four of the seven All-Ivy players. Junior Meg Nakamura rounded out the team, finishing in 10th place with 246 strokes.

After such a successful weekend the men's and women's squads will be looking forward to an opportunity to head to NCAAs and pad their already loaded resumes with another team title.