Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

Fort Lewis College Athletics

Scoreboard

Women's Golf RMAC Championships 4.20
RMAC Communications
FLC women's golf team members Sophie Schwartz, Emilia Manntz, Emma Tornroos and Madalen Meier walk as a team during this week's RMAC Championships.

Tornroos earns top-10 finish, Skyhawks place 8th at RMAC Championships

4/20/2021 8:21:00 PM

By: David Wilson, Assistant AD-Communications
LITCHFIELD PARK, Arizona — The Fort Lewis College women's golf team wrapped up a building block 2020-21 season this week at the RMAC Championships, hosted Sunday through Tuesday at Wigwam Golf Resort in Litchfield Park, Arizona.

Fort Lewis finished eighth overall as a team with a tournament score of +124 (976); ahead of the preseason RMAC Coaches' Poll where the Skyhawks were selected ninth back in September.

"I'm extremely happy with the ladies. They played hard and they played together as a team," said FLC head golf coach, Jim Foltz. "I'm very pleased with the way the ladies have transitioned in playing competitive golf. It was a tough tournament, tough pin locations and windy conditions, but they kept us in the fight."

Leading the way for the Skyhawks this past week was sophomore Emma Tornroos, who responded to the challenge of being listed in the No. 1 position by carding rounds of 79-79-73 to finish +18 (231) and in a tie for eighth place in her first trip to the RMAC Championships.

Tornroos was one of the steadiest players in the field, finishing with the second most pars (34) and in a tie for the second best scoring average on par-4s (+6, 4.29) over the 54-hole tournament.

"Emma doesn't talk much, pretty quiet kid, but she wants to win and play well," Foltz said of his sophomore out of Stockholm, Sweden. "She put the time in practicing to help herself this past year. And I think, mentally, when she started playing better she was able to see that she does belong and can compete at this level. Her confidence has soared and it showed in this tournament."

Emma's fellow countrywoman, junior Emilia Manntz, followed on the Skyhawks' scorecard as she finished in a tie for 30th overall at +33 (246).

True freshman Kendal Gutierrez (+38 (251)) earned a 38th place finish in her first collegiate postseason tournament, while Durango's own Madalen Meier placed 55th overall at +66 (279).

Sandwiched in between was senior Sophie Schwartz, who finished tied for 41st overall at +40 (253) in her final tournament as a Skyhawk.

Foltz praised the growth and the work put in by Schwartz, named a team co-captain back in the fall, for her guidance to a young a FLC team, which includes her sister and freshman Molly Schwartz, during the 2020-21 season.

"Sophie and I go way back. She's been a four-year player for me and when she first came on board, she was my little wild child," Foltz joked. "The great thing about coaching, you get to watch your student-athletes develop and grow. Not only has Sophie grown on the golf course, but she's grown as a student and a person and that's why I picked her as a captain. She's very loyal to the women's golf program and always been there to help and answer questions for the younger players."

With seven returners on the roster who saw tournament time in 2020-21, the Skyhawks will now turn their attention toward developing their young core and taking another step forward when the team returns to campus this fall to begin the 2021-22 campaign.

"Golf is kind of a loner sport in the sense it takes individual players to be driven to go play, go to the range, work on the shots their good at and the ones their not good at, without a coach always being there looking over their shoulder. And a lot of times during the summer, that's the time when these ladies will grow into mature players because they're in a lot of tournaments," Foltz said. "Their goal is not to be eighth place anymore. Their goal has been stepped up and I believe if we go out and practice, we go out and play tournaments this summer, that we'll be ready to take off to any tournament that comes our way next year."
 
Print Friendly Version