Every collegiate athletic program has its first star.
For Ashland University women's golf, its first star was
Erin Misheff Roberts.
Roberts will be honored as one of five 2025 Hall of Famers (see release link), two Eagle Forever Award honorees and two 2024-25 AU Student-Athletes of the Year at the 2025 Ashland University Hall of Fame Induction and Student-Athlete of the Year recognition, Oct. 11 at 9:30 a.m. at the John C. Myers Convocation Center – prior to the Eagle football team's 101
st Homecoming game at 1 p.m. vs. Thomas More at Jack Miller Stadium/Martinelli Field.
"Very excited," Roberts said. "I had just had my first baby, so my head wasn't really thinking about Ashland sports. But getting the call and knowing that I was getting inducted was very exciting."
Roberts set the standard for all future Ashland women's golfers during her time as an Eagle. She became the program's first conference medalist by winning the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship in 2011, and tied for sixth individually during the team's first trip to the NCAA Division II Championships later that year. Competing as an individual at D-II nationals in 2012, Roberts finished in a tie for 14
th.
Winning a program-record seven tournaments during her time at Ashland, Roberts was a two-time D-II All-American, was 2011 NCAA regional medalist, finished as runner-up at the GLIAC Championships as both a freshman and senior, was the 2009 GLIAC Freshman of the Year, four-time first-team All-GLIAC and three-time All-GLIAC Academic, and has the program mark for lowest 72-hole total at a tournament (296).
At the time that Roberts was finishing her prep golfing career at Walsh Jesuit High School, the Eagle women's golf program wasn't even a decade old.
"My high school career wasn't as strong as I think I wanted it to be," Roberts admitted. "I think I was kind of a late bloomer in golf. I didn't make the volleyball team, and I ended up trying out for the golf team, and, from there, it kind of took off.
"I really think Ashland became my choice because I really bonded with the coach (head coach
Pam Leonard). I think that was huge for me. I really bonded with the team, as well. And then on top of that, I knew I was going to be able to play my freshman year. I thought Division II would be a really good mix for me."
Roberts led the charge for Ashland to move up in the GLIAC and the Midwest Region. In her four years at AU, the team finished second at the conference championships three times and third once. The program also made its first team D-II postseason appearance when she was a junior.
"Ashland was such a good fit for me, just for me to practice the way I wanted to," she said. "That year (2011), specifically, we had the best team we'd ever had, and I think that kind of got everybody in a position to know that we had a chance to make it to nationals that year.
"Golf is so unique. It's an individual sport, but also a team sport. It just has an additional competitive nature within the team, too. We knew we had a good team."
Roberts' teams were the beginning of Ashland women's golf reaching the D-II postseason in 10 consecutive seasons.
"For me, personally, it felt great," she said. "Looking back on it, it's crazy for me to hear that that's kind of what started it. For me, it's a very proud moment."
Roberts played professional golf on the Symetra Tour for two years, but admitted, "I played some of my best golf when I was at Ashland. I had a lot of confidence. Then, when I turned it into my job, it just wasn't as much of a fun thing."
She now is working at EY (formerly Ernst & Young), and has been married to
Cody Roberts, a former college football player, for two years.
What will Homecoming morning be like for Roberts, when she is up at the podium giving her Hall of Fame induction speech?
"I think it will be kind of a surreal moment," she admitted. "I have not been back in Ashland since I graduated, so it will be interesting to go back. I forgot some of the great wins we had as a team, and some of the great wins I had individually.
"It will be great to kind of relive those memories, and also show my husband around my college campus."
