Hayden Audette, sports editor

The Augsburg Mens and Womens Golf programs both wrapped up the fall portion of their seasons at the MIAC Championships in Coon Rapids, MN at the Bunker Hills Golf Course. Although neither team placed particularly high, both the Auggie men and women were led by a standout performer playing some of the best golf of their collegiate careers. 

The Auggie men were led by junior Fritz Belisle, who tied his career-best score over the three rounds of the tournament with a total stroke number of 226. This score was good enough for a tie for 13th place overall. The second Auggie on the leaderboard was fellow junior Stellan Orvick, who finished in a tie for 21st. Orvick finished with a score of 231 over the three rounds. Right behind him at 232 was another junior, River Goodmanson. Goodmanson finished in a tie for 25th place, making the top 25 at the MIAC Championship for the third straight year. The other two Auggie mens golfers were junior Vincent Weis and senior Jack Robbel, who finished in 36th and 37th place respectively with scores of 243 and 244.

The overall team finish put the Auggies in sixth place out of the nine teams competing. Orvick shared that although finishing in sixth overall was disappointing for the team, he thought there were still lessons to be learned from the tournament. “It really hurts to play that badly during such a big event,” Orvick said. “The most important part of playing ‘bad golf’ is learning from it. What is the game trying to teach you? You figure that out and learn from it.” 

The Augsburg womens team was led by junior Avery Sawchuk, who set a new school record for a three-round total score with a tally of 242. This broke the previous record of 250, which was achieved twice by Stefani Zappa (in 2009 and 2010) and once by recent Auggie grad Emma Kraft (in 2021). Sawchuk’s score earned her a tie for 17th, a significant improvement from her 26th place finish a year ago. Also improving on her score from the 2021 MIAC Championship was sophomore Elizabeth Fagerlind. Fagerlind moved up six spots from last year’s tournament to place 32nd this year, with a total score of 257. Another sophomore, Maren Aikens, finished in 40th with a score of 264. Rounding out the Augsburg golfers was junior Claire Jenkins Coffman, who finished 49th with a 308 final score.

The Auggie women finished in 10th place overall. Despite this, they still set a school record as a team, with their combined score of 1,071 being the best ever finish at a MIAC Championship for Augsburg women’s golf. Just like their counterparts on the men’s side, the women’s team will take a break for the winter before returning to the course this spring. 

If someone were to only look at their overall team finishes, they might conclude that the Augsburg golf programs finished the fall portion of their schedule on a disappointing note. Much like many other team sports, however, the numbers alone don’t tell the whole story. Despite the fact that neither team finished near the top of the leaderboard, several Auggies made huge improvements and set personal bests and even a school record in Sawchuk’s case. That will definitely give both teams plenty to build on as they prepare for the second half of the season in the spring.