Saint Louis To Add Women’s Golf Team

Saint Louis University director of athletics Doug Woolard Tuesday announced that the department will sponsor women’s golf beginning in the 2004-05 academic year. Billiken men’s golf coach Ed Schwent will assume responsibility for both programs as director of golf.

Schwent will begin recruiting for the 10-member team immediately. “With the growth of junior golf in the St. Louis metropolitan region, this is a good move for Saint Louis University and women’s golf in this area,” Schwent said. “We’ve got an exciting environment for women’s golf, and we believe this also will help elevate our men’s program.”

Saint Louis becomes the 10th C-USA program to sponsor both women’s and men’s golf along with Cincinnati, East Carolina, Louisville, Memphis, South Florida, Southern Miss, TCU, Tulane and UAB. Gateway National in Illinois, which serves as the men’s team’s home course, also will serve as the home course for the women.

The women’s golf team replaces rifle, which was a four-member, non-scholarship coed program. The rifle team began competing in 1993 as a member of The Great Midwest Conference and continued competing in Conference USA. When Cincinnati, DePaul and Marquette dropped their rifle programs following the 1997-98 season, C-USA dipped below the necessary five teams to sponsor a league championship.

“The move is logical from the standpoint that Conference USA no longer sponsors rifle as a championship sport,” Woolard said. “With Saint Louis University and Memphis as the only C-USA schools still competing, scheduling the minimum number of competitions required by the NCAA was becoming more challenging every year.

“Should there be a continuing interest within the University community for a rifle team, the University recreation department has expressed an interest in sponsoring a club team,” Woolard said.

Cross country coach Mike Uhrich, who handled the rifle team in addition to his cross country duties, will continue to direct the men’s and women’s cross country programs.