In the spring of 2021, Ashland University's women's golf team finished next-to-last at the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship.
Enter
Grace Grant and
Emma Conway – and the rest, as they say, is history.
While it has taken Grant and Conway longer to reach the NCAA Division II Championships than they would have liked, they will be a part of the Eagles' quintet which will begin play at 2024 nationals on Tuesday (May 21) at the Orange County National Golf Center and Lodge in Winter Garden, Fla..
"The team chemistry has really improved, and I think that just really helps us grow as a team, off the course and on the course," Grant said. "We all support each other, and we want each other to do our best. We just really want the team to win and do well."
Said Conway, "Joining this program, I knew this was hopefully going to be our story. I knew that I was going to be a part of the come-up story of this team, and that's one of the big reasons why I joined. It is really fulfilling knowing we have come so far."
Both Grant and Conway have the opportunity to play at a national level in their home state – Grant being from Bradenton and Conway from St. Petersburg, both roughly two hours away from nationals.
"It's going to be really, really cool," Conway said. "To be able to play and be in Florida is going to be super convenient. It is a really nice thing to add to the tournament."
Grant added, "I'm really excited to be able to play in Florida, and have more of my family there, more friends there. I feel like we are going into the tournament confidence about the conditions."
So how did two girls golfers from Florida become two women's golfers for a Division II university in Ohio?
"I always wanted to experience something different," said Grant, "and experience a different type of people, different type of state in general. And I felt like Ashland was the best opportunity for me to grow as a person, and just help me figure out who I am and what I want to do in life.
"I am very happy that I chose Ashland. I'm really happy where I ended up."
"It was just right place, right time for me," said Conway. "Going to visit the school, something just felt so right about being there. Something told me that was just the place that I wanted to be. And I have met the most incredible people and had the most incredible opportunities.
"Never once have I regretted going to Ashland."
Grant and Conway are the veterans in a lineup which has brought AU women's golf back to D-II nationals as a team for the first time since 2015 – and their improvement and overall play have been key reasons why.
A two-time All-Great Midwest Athletic Conference performer, Grant's average score has been whittled down from 82.2 as a freshman to 79.2 as a sophomore to 77.8 in 2023-24. Conway has gone from 82.3 to 81.6 to 79.4 – and was AU's low scorer at the East Regional at 76-75-80—231.
"At the beginning, it was really hard, because who likes to lose? Finishing last in some of those tournaments, that never felt good," Conway said. "Sometimes it doesn't seem like there's that light at the end of the tunnel. You just have to keep pushing and keep trying and go through all those trials and tribulations as best you can and stay with it."
Added Grant, "We really struggled my freshman year. We were all figuring out what college golf was like. Emma and I have seen the team just turn around from coming in last a few times at tournaments…we've really turned it around in the last two years."
Both Conway and Grant have enjoyed the Eagles' renaissance of late, which started with a win at the Klash In Kentucky, a second-place finish at Ohio Dominican's NC4K Classic, and a victory at the Gannon Spring Invitational. That carried over to a runner-up placement at the 2024 Great Midwest Championship, then a fourth-place ending at regionals – when Ashland was the No. 10 seed.
"We've really just learned how to go out there and play, and play for the team," Grant said. "We started out the season, we knew we were going to be better…but by the end of the season, all five of us have come together. Ever since the Klash In Kentucky, we've really figured out how to shoot well on the same day."
Said Conway, "Over the winter break, we did so much team bonding, and not even on purpose. Our chemistry is incredible, and it has been this last semester. We really all play for each other. That had definitely helped us turn it on."
In the three previous team qualifications for nationals, the AU women finished tied for ninth, 12
th and ninth. Getting to Friday (May 24) for the start of match play would put them no worse than eighth in the nation.
Conway and Grant have to chance to make program history in their home state.
"There's no point to go to a tournament if you're not expecting to win it," Conway said. "If we weren't expecting to do the best we can, what is the point in going? I think we have the talent on this team to make it."
"We're all going in with confidence in ourselves and confidence in the team that we can make it to those final match play days," Grant said. "We really just need to dig deep and believe that we deserve to be there, just as much as any of the other teams."
