Both the Arizona men’s and women’s golf teams hope to continue their winning ways during spring break as they head to Las Vegas and Hawaii, respectively.
In the two last invitationals, the men’s team has had drastically different results. The Wildcats placed first at the Anteater Invitational but fell to eighth place at the John Burns Invitational in Hawaii.
“”We are making some progress,”” said head coach Rick LaRose. “”We are still trying to find our permanent line up. But some guys are starting to come around.””
The men are currently ranked No. 74 in the country due to underclassmen being less productive at the start of the year, giving the team to have a slow start.
“”Erik (Oja) has a lot of talent. I think he is going to be a very good player eventually,”” LaRose said of the lone freshman in the starting lineup. “”He is just a freshman with a lot to learn.””
The Wildcats will face six top-20 teams in Las Vegas for the Southern Highlands Collegiate Masters starting on Friday.
“”We just need to be able to compete in that level,”” LaRose said. “”That’s the best level in the country.””
On the other end, the women are ranked No. 10 in the country coming off a first place finish and a second place finish in recent weeks.
Arizona’s second place finish came against No. 3 UCLA, but head coach Laura Ianello thinks that they could have easily won.
“”UCLA did outplay us last week, we didn’t have our A game,”” Ianello said. “”Honestly if we would have played well, we would have beat UCLA. You can’t be too disappointed in second, but going forward we will see UCLA again and we will have to beat them.””
Ianello receives support this season from her upperclassmen who have dominated for the team thus far. Isabelle Boineau, Alejandra Llaneza and Margarita Ramos have been key factors in Ianello’s success in her first year at the helm.
“”They are really helping Haley (Andreas) and Kyndall (Ardoin),”” Ianello said. “”It’s good to have those veterans who can deal with the pressure of the competition better than my first and second year girls.””
The Arizona women will participate in two invitationals over spring break as they head out to Hawaii for the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational on March 14 and San Diego for The Battle at the Rancho Bernardo Inn on March 20.
