Montezuma-Cortez graduate and former Dolores Lady Bears golfer Kiselya Plewe wrapped up her first collegiate golf season last week.
Suiting up for the Weber State University Wildcats, Plewe opened her freshman season with consecutive top-25 finishes.
“Coming into the fall season I had a lot of momentum from the big summer tournaments I played in,” she said. “So I just wanted to keep that going and do well and kind of make a statement. I wanted to show that I could play on my team and qualify.”
She shot a 76 in her first round at the season-opening Hobble Creek Fall Classic in Springville, Utah in September. And then she followed it with scores of 75 and 77 in rounds two and three, respectively, to finish with a total score of 228 to tie for 24th.
Plewe sat out the team’s next meet in Aurora, Oregon to recover from a minor shoulder injury, but then bounced back at the Pat Lesser Harbottle Invitational in Tacoma, Washington. There, she shot a 225 in three rounds to finish tied for 18th.
In the Wildcats’ final meet of the fall season last week at the Santa Clara Colby Invitational in San Jose, California, Plewe had her best finish, tying for 12th place after shooting a 234.
Plewe had been playing 18-hole tournaments in high school, except for the state tournament, which was 36. But at the college level, she’s playing 36 holes on the opening day of tournaments and another 18 the next day for a total of 54.
“Thirty-six holes in a day is completely different,” she explained. “Mentally you have to stay a lot more focused. Because if you have a blowup hole, chances are you’re going to be playing it again in about four hours, so you have to move on from mistakes.”
“Physically,” she continued. “It’s an 11 1/2-hour day and it’s just really long, so you have to make sure you’re eating and conserving energy. It’s very different, but you get used to it.”
Another difference between high school and college golf is the travel.
As a Wildcat, Plewe has competed in tournaments in Utah, Washington and California. But as opposed to the five-plus hour bus rides she endured as a Dolores golfer, now Plewe enjoys a quicker mode of transportation, as the team flies to most meets. The exception this fall was the season-opener in Springville, which was around an hour-and-a-half drive from Weber State, in Ogden.
“Playing here is awesome because they set up all of our travel stuff and we just kind of get on the plane and can focus on playing golf,” she said. “And the trips are really fun to be with your team.”
After finishing up the fall season, Plewe is already looking ahead to spring. She said the fall season, which consists of four tournaments, is less significant than the spring season, which includes six tournaments and the Big Sky Conference Championships.
For now, she plans to rehab her shoulder to ensure that she is 100 percent to begin spring play. She will also continue to work on her game at Weber State University’s indoor facility, before kicking off the 2017 spring season at Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada on Monday, Feb. 13