Nevada golfers ready for season

Nevada men's golf coach Tom Duncan and women's golf coach Carl Laib are excited about the upcoming fall season after their respective clubs advanced to the NCAA regionals last spring.

Duncan returns his entire squad and has added five freshmen. Laib, though, must replace All-American Angie Yoon and Carson High graduate Lynda Upton, who was an Academic All-American. But Laib does return three key players and has added three highly-touted freshmen.

The teams will receive an early test where they venture to places they both captured season-opening titles a year ago. The men won at the Northwest Collegiate in Corvallis, Ore. and the women are the two-time defending Ram Fall Classic champions in Fort Collins, Colo.

"The five guys we won that tournament with last year is the same squad that went to the NCAA regional and will make this trip this year," eighth-year coach Duncan said. "I think we're better than we were a year ago because we're deeper.

"We also have five talented freshmen, onw who missed qualifying for this tournament by two strokes and two others who were right behind him. Our goal is to beat as many people as we can this fall to help our ranking and to see more than just five guys play in tournaments. We've always had fall success and we want to continue that in the spring, with our biggest goal being to win the WAC championship."

Returning are Sprague Kolp, Cullen Brasfield, Mike Haack, Carlos Concha and Ian Hagen, who will comprise this week's lineup. The freshmen are Adam Martin, Jason Ferrin, Casey Watabu, Jake Wolf and Justin Sollene.

Nevada's men will take part in six tournaments this fall. On Monday and Tuesday, the Wolf Pack will be at the Nortwest Collegiate followed by the Husky Invitational Oct. 1-2 in Seattle, the Lexus Classic Oct. 5-6 in Fresno, Calif., the Wolf Pack Classic Oct. 8-9 at Genoa Lakes, the Pacific Invitational Oct. 22-23 in Stockton, Calif. and the Aztec Invitational Nov. 5-6 in San Diego.

Alana Condon, Meghan Ingalls return for the women and will be joined by freshmen Erin Long, Erin LaPlaunt and Jenny Peek in the opening tournament lineup. Katy Joslin also returns, but is injured at the present time.

Others on the roster are Carson City's Kristina Yeskie, Tarah Badger, Chandeni Gill and Michelle Jensen.

The women will compete on Monday and Tuesday in Ft. Collins followed by the Denver Fall Classic Sept. 24-25 and the Heather Farr Memorial Oct. 8-9 in Boulder, Colo. The women will also face a national-caliber field, including defending NCAA champion Georgia Oct. 12-13 at a tournament in Tennessee.

"I think we're going to be really good this year and have a chance to be better than we were a year ago even without Angie and Lynda," Laib said. "Alana and Meghan have played well."

Peek was the Colorado state high school champion. "She'll be somewhat familiar with the opening course," Laib said. "Our goal is to win one fall tournament and get ready for the spring."