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The Morehead State women's golf team, led by Head Coach Stephanie Barker, has put together an impressive resume in just five and a half years as a Division I program. However, this talented team features so much more than just birdies, low scores and awards.
Since Barker resurrected the program in 2008, Morehead State has established themselves as one of the best programs in the Ohio Valley Conference and Southeast Region. The Eagles have won 14 tournaments, including the OVC title in 2011. With rounds of 291 and 292 in the 2011 conference championship, the team recorded the lowest team scores in OVC history.
For the past three years, the squad has been consistently ranked in the top 100 in the nation. Multiple players have earned OVC honors every season, three of which have been OVC Players of the Year. At last season's OVC ceremony, five Morehead State players received OVC honors. This was a program record and tie in OVC history.
The women's golf team is coming off of a successful fall campaign. MSU featured finishing fourth or better in four of five events, including winning the William and Mary Invitational. The squad also notched two runner-up finishes, and a top-10 finish at the elite Golfweek Conference Challenge. Off the course, Morehead State posted an impressive team GPA of 3.82, while also contributing over 100 community service hours.
Barker, a two-time All-American and graduate of Oklahoma State, is well versed in the area of honors and awards. The three-time academic All-American is also a former LPGA and European Tour player who has made appearances in multiple majors. The native Californian has earned Coach of the Year honors twice in her career, once at Cal State Northridge in 2001, and most recently in 2011 with MSU. Barker also served as the Head Coach at University of Kentucky from 2001-2007 before building the Morehead State women's golf program.
"The opportunity to build a Division I women's golf program from the ground up has been a dream come true," Barker said. "With the support of our community and university, we had the lofty goal to ultimately win our conference championship and qualify for the NCAAs. To put so much time and energy into a program, work together, and then actually accomplish that dream in three years was extraordinary. The team and I had so much fun accomplishing our goals that season, and we would love to win another championship for Morehead. Nothing compares to putting your heart and soul into something and then accomplishing what you set out to do."
While the women's golf program values winning, the success of the program is based on a more holistic philosophy. Barker and her team embrace the values of academic success, giving back to the community, enjoying the college experience, and leaving a lasting legacy. The program's philosophy seems to perfectly match the Morehead State University mission and motto.
Morehead State University, located in Eastern Kentucky, strives to deliver education under the MSU is much more motto. The Morehead State women's golf team's list of accomplishments is full of highlights and records but if you ask the team what makes this experience so valuable, it is much more than golf.
"We value more than just winning," sophomore Katie Rice from California said. "We prioritize integrity and friendship above extrinsic rewards."
Values such as honestly, respect, accountability, balance, commitment and friendship make up the roots of the team Congruency Tree established by the team at the beginning of the season. The leaves represent the process goals that can be controlled by the student-athletes in their daily lives and choices. The branches of the tree are the team's goals for the season, while the trunk is the team motto. An essential ideal of the team is to strive to be the best it can be in every aspect of every day.
Because golf is in many aspects an individual sport, many teams are solely a team on paper. Unless forced, many teams in individual sports do not spend time together outside of practice and tournaments. The Morehead State team is the polar opposite. They all live in the same hallway of their dormitory and run it like a household.
These teammates have traveled thousands of miles away from home to merge together to form a diverse golf team. The eight-player roster features two players from Kentucky, two players from California, while four players have traveled across the Atlantic Ocean from Sweden and Denmark. With families far away from home, the girls describe their relationship as their family away from home.
Because of the many different nationalities and cultures represented on this team, every member brings something different to the table, not only in terms of food. Similar to what is taught in a business class, this team believes that diversity makes for a creative, innovative and a productive workforce. Each team member's unique background and life experience brings something valuable to the table. They have learned to appreciate and understand each other's perspectives in order to value diversity and turn it into an asset.
Barker is thorough in her recruiting to make sure the ladies coming in will be an ideal fit for the program on many different levels. The team spirit and family-like environment is important to the program and has attracted many recruits during official visits. Team bonding activities such as cooking dinner, watching movies and going to events to support fellow Eagles are daily activities among these ladies.
"We do not have to schedule team bonding like many other teams have to do," junior Krista Power from Kentucky added. "The friendships made here are for life and what makes this experience so valuable. We practice, hang out, win and lose together."
Like in a traditional family, an important cornerstone is the sharing of success. For this team, the accomplishments of individuals are team efforts. Together the teammates help each other make dreams come true, no matter if it is getting into medical school or shooting under par. When teammates have to qualify against each other to make the traveling squad, it can easily create tension on a team. That is when it becomes especially important to remember that everyone has a share of the success, and is an integral part of the team.
As I am writing this I have about three months left until I graduate and move back to Sweden. I have started thinking about what I will bring home from this experience. It sounds cliché, but this journey really is so much more than tournament scores, fairway hits and up-and-down percentages. I have learned so much about myself as a player and as a person.
Nothing can compare to the bonds I have made with my teammates and I would not trade that for anything. I think our relationship off the course is what makes us so successful on the course. After the awards ceremony of the 2011 OVC Championship, a player from another team came up to me and said: "I think you guys won because you have the most fun." It did not occur to me at that time how correct she was.
