Preparing for a repeat

For the duration of the regular season, the women’s golf team has been content with playing from behind.

The Vikings—fresh off the completion of their fifth spring tournament, a seventh place finish at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic—have worked to a seemingly mediocre finish at all of their spring tournaments, never finishing higher than sixth place.

Headed into the Big Sky Conference Championships in Chandler, Ariz., on April 20–22, the Vikings seem anything but poised to make a run at their fifth conference title this decade.

That is, until you consider how the team did it last season.

After near- or dead-last finishes in four of their matches leading up to the 2008 championships, the Vikings stunned the field and earned the conference’s berth to the NCAA Regional Championships.

That team was led by sophomore medalist Hannah Bews, whose three-round total of 220 earned her medalist honors. Bews, who transferred over the summer, is gone but the Vikings will likely find themselves in an eerily similar position as the underdog when the 2009 tournament kicks off.

Playing in their final tune-up before the pressure of the conference tournament is applied, the Vikings had a solid outing at the Cowgirl Classic, which was hosted by Wyoming but played in Chandler, Ariz. The course will also host the conference championships.

Junior Justine Hix’s three-day total of 231 (78, 77, 76) landed her in 11th place while all five Portland State golfers finished in the top 35. The Vikings finished third among the nine Big Sky schools that competed.

Hix, who played at Grants Pass High School in southern Oregon, had her best tournament since her freshman season, while the entire Portland State team seemed to play better as the tournament wore on, certainly a good omen for Vikings fans as the squad heads into the conference championships.

While it was Hix who stole the show in Chandler, it has been junior transfer Stephanie Johns who has led the Vikings in scoring average at 77.28 this season. She will be leaned on heavily and will need a fabulous performance—as Bews had last season—should the Vikings have any chance at earning another trophy.