Expectations high for UW

The Washington women's golf team started up its season at the Northrop Grumman Regional Challenge yesterday, on a quest to improve on their best-ever finish last season. The No.4 Huskies finished in sixth place last year at the NCAA Championships -- the highest finish ever for a UW team. "Your expectations are that you continue to improve and continue to get better every week," coach Mary Lou Mulflur said. During the fall season, Washington played in four team events and placed no lower than third in any of them. The Huskies' encouraging fall makes it look like there are bright prospects on the horizon this season. The Huskies will compete in five events this spring before the Pac-10 Championships take place in April. "We try to treat every event the same, and your ultimate goal is to win," Mulflur said. "If we continue to work hard and get better every week that we're out there, by the time the big tournaments in April and May roll around we will continue to put ourselves in a position to have a chance to win." The position they want to be in is one among the elite that will be competing for the top prize in May at the NCAA Championships. Last season, Washington was a very youthful team with two sophomores, two freshmen and one senior playing in the championship at the end of the year. Things will be a little bit different this year, as those younger players have had another year to develop their game. "The nice thing about this team is that we have tremendous depth, and that provides a very competitive atmosphere at practice and in qualifying rounds," Mulflur said. "That will make us a better team already." In the lineup for the Huskies are three players ranked in the top-30 nationally. They are freshman Kim Shin at No. 19, No. 27 Paige MacKenzie and No. 30 Sung Ea Lee. "Paige, Kim and Sung Lee have separated themselves as our topthree players and all of them have scoring averages in the 73 range," Mulflur said about the trio. "They played all the fall events and did well." MacKenzie is the veteran on this year's squad. This is her fourth year with the team, although she is currently listed as a red-shirt junior. She had her best season during the fall when she finished in fifth place at the Stanford Intercollegiate. She was the highest finishing Husky at the NCAAs last year, finishing the four-day event at even par, good enough for 11th place. The other junior on the team is Lee. She had a stellar sophomore season that saw her finish lower than 15th in a tournament only two times. Unfortunately, one of her low finishes was in the NCAAs, when she finished tied for 69th place at 15-over par. She had a slow start in the fall this year, before bouncing back to finish in sixth and second in her last two tournaments. Added to an already strong roster is Kim. She is currently the highest-ranked individual on the team and finished as high as sixth during fall competition. "It's interesting when you have a small team that the dynamics can change dramatically with just one player," Mulflur said about Kim. "She has been a great addition and a great teammate." Rounding out the lineup for Washington are a set of four sophomores vying for spots on the traveling team -- Ashley Bickerton, Courtney McCracken, Amber Prange and Amy Wang. Bickerton and Prange played as scoring members for the team at the NCAA Championships last season. "Their job is to separate themselves from the other three that they're close with in order to kind of steer their position on the team," Mulflur said. Mulflur said that what gives this team an advantage this year is the depth they have up and down the lineup. "People are continually being pushed to keep their spot," she said. "Having that depth has caused everyone to have to step up their game to make the team and themselves better."

Expectations high for UW

Disruptor interrupts Psych 210, professor and students chase man on to Red Square

2025 Seattle and King County primary election endorsements

UW mechanical engineering students are now required to pay $250 quarterly fee to participate in department-affiliated RSOs

College Inn Pub reopens under new ownership