Ellen Rager earned Wildcat Athlete of the Week honors for her huge performance this past weekend at the Concordia Invitational in Detroit Lakes, Minn. The sophomore golfer has showed steady improvement since joining the collegiate game last year and made history this week as she shot her personal best round of 81 on Sunday, Sept. 9. Previously, Rager had shot an 83 at the St. Thomas Invitational in April. Not only was that her best round, but in team's second year of existence, it is also a program best round.
On the first day of competition and in difficult conditions, Rager shot a 92 to lead the Wildcats on the day. However, the team found itself just two strokes out of the eighth place spot. Rager took control on the second day and dropped 11 strokes to help the team jump into that eighth place position. As a team, the Wildcats dropped 43 strokes total from their day one score to post the best team score in the program's history (356). Out of the six Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) teams that played in the tournament, the Wildcats posted the third best team score on the day beatin out Macalester, Bethel and Augsburg.
Rager's performance was good enough for a 10th-place finish. The Wildcats return to action on Saturday, Sept. 15, as they travel to the Division III Midwest Classic in Lake City, Minn. The team is just three weeks away from the MIAC championships in Coon Rapids, Minn., on Oct. 6-8, where Rager hopes to find medalist honors ad the team looks to jump up a few spots from its ninth-place finish last year.
