By PEDRO VELAZCO
Tribune sportswriter
July 01, 2008 11:41 pm
—
Northwestern golfer Sara Poppas has developed a taste for the big events available to her. She was the medalist at the Mid-Indiana Conference meet this season and twice has golfed in the state finals.
Now, she’s eager to try her hand at even bigger fish.
Poppas accepted an offer to join the Indiana University women’s golf team and will try to crack the Hoosiers’ lineup when she begins her freshman year this fall.
“When he [IU coach Clint Wallman] called and asked me, I was beyond excited,” Poppas said. “I can’t even explain how excited I was. Now, I’m ready to go to school because I’ve dreamed of going to IU forever.”
Poppas is getting a mix of academic and athletic scholarship money which she said will pay for about a third of her total expenses this coming year. In return, she hopes to push for a spot on an IU squad which qualified for the NCAA tournament the last two seasons.
“[Wallman] is just really getting me excited for how big this is,” Poppas said. “I have a chance to play in the Big 10s and the NCAA tournament in less than a year. It’s really exciting. I have to prepare myself and try my best to qualify to be a part of that.”
Wallman has thrown open qualifications for spots on the squad, with challengers coming from the ranks of returning scholarship players, invited walk-ons and unknown walk-ons. Wallman’s enthusiasm is palpable about a program he believes is on the rise. He’s glad to have Poppas join the fray.
“The thing about Sara is that she’s a really gritty and determined player,” Wallman said. “She’s got a huge upside that she has played some competitive golf at the high school level and the state level and to me she’s the type of player that isn’t hung up so much on swing mechanics, she just wants to get the ball in the hole. When you’ve got a mentality like that, you’re going to have a successful player. That’s one of the reasons I recruited her, because of her gritty mentality.”
Poppas qualified for state as an individual this season and shot an 80 in one day of action after firing a 79 at the regional. Last season, she helped Northwestern reach state as a team and shot 164 over two days to tie for 21st.
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement in her the last year and a half as we’ve gone through the recruiting process,” Wallman said. “The other key is she’s a sharp young lady. It’s no secret golf is a thinking person’s game.”
Poppas plans to major in biology.
At Indiana, Poppas will join former NW teammate Lauren Giesecke, former Western player Amber Lindgren, and an old acquaintance from Ohio, Laura Nochta, who played at a neighboring school when Poppas’ family lived in the Buckeye state.
With familiar faces and a coaching staff she was enthused about, picking IU was an easy decision.
“My junior year we went down for camp [at IU] and I got to meet coach Wallman and coach [Katie] Brophy and I really clicked with both of them,” Poppas said. “I sent them an e-mail and I said I wanted to take a visit. Everything with him worked. It just fit right. I already know those girls [Giesecke, Lindgren and Nochta] pretty well and I’ve played with them all.”
Wallman expects big things next season from Giesecke, who will be a sophomore and Lindgren, who will be a senior.
“Lauren is such a natural talent that it’s amazing,” he said. “She didn’t have a lot of experience when she came here and she worked pretty much the entire year. She didn’t travel [with the team]. Her first tournament, at the IU Invitational at Crooked Stick, her first two rounds she shoots 77, 78 and plays so remarkably well. I think that gave her a big boost of confidence.
“It’s no secret the two times we’ve won tournaments that Amber has been in the mix. Aside from the golf stuff, she just provides such a good leadership role and she’s really grown into that, especially this last year. I expect her to take that and run with it.”
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.