Both men’s and women’s golf will be aiming for success this season, but both will be looking for that success to come from different places. For the Cowgirls, they’ll be leaning on a lot of youth this season with a relatively young team, while the Cowboys will be relying much more on the experience of their roster.
The Cowgirls feature four freshmen on their roster this season, along with a pair of sophomores that take the form of their youth.
“They’re going to bring a lot of tremendous junior and amateur experience,” women’s head coach Josie Strander said of her younger golfers on the roster. “It’s just a whole new energy [and] the excitement a new group brings in, especially with such a large group for us.”
Strander notes that while there may be a lot of inexperience on their roster, she’ll still be heavily leaning on her veteran corps of Kyla Wilde and Meghan Vogt to really pave the way for the team this year.
“We’ll definitely be leaning on Kyla Wilde, she has a lot of experience, not only as a Cowgirl but in her junior career. She has kind of see the gamut as far as all the levels of competition and golf courses that we compete on, so her experience is going to be tremendous for us,” Strander said.
“Meghan Vogt is back in the mix this year, coming off an injury this last year,” Strander added. “So I’m really excited for her return and what she can bring.”
Strander is excited for her upcoming schedule, especially in the fall as the Cowgirls get to stay regional, with tournaments at Washington, Colorado State, Denver and then they head to Hawaii to compete to wrap up their fall schedule.
On the men’s side of things, Patrick Azevedo, Jaren Calkins, Kristof Pankin and Davis Seybert all return as seniors after starting most tournaments for the Cowboys last season. Azevedo is the top returner for the Cowboys, after he placed 22nd in the Mountain West championships last year.
Calkins, Pankin and Seybert all return with top 50 finishes at last year’s Mountain West championships as well.
The Cowboys have a similar fall schedule to the Cowgirls, but instead head to Washington State, then a trio of tournaments in Colorado at University of Colorado, Colorado State and Air Force. They then end the fall schedule at Hawaii as well.
For both teams, competing in golf collegiately is a year long process, starting in the early fall and ending late in the spring, and every single match counts towards the teams’ rankings and where they’ll be heading into the Mountain West championship.
“The unique part [of golf] is all of it counts towards our rankings, so what you do in September and October is just as important as what you’re doing in the spring season,” Strander said.
The Cowboys begin their season on September 10, while the Cowgirls will follow up a week later, starting on September 16.
