Goshen College’s new men’s and women’s disc golf teams competed at home Saturday, Sept. 19 in the Dash Bash at Ox Bow Park. This is the first full varsity season for the Maple Leafs. The tournament brought collegiate disc golf teams to Goshen as the new program continues to build its place in GC athletics.

Ox Bow Park serves as the home course for Goshen’s disc golf teams. The women’s team finished third in the Collegiate Division 1. Goshen also had a team compete in the mixed Collegiate Division 2, with the Leafs B team finishing fourth.

The competition was an important part of Goshen disc golf’s first season since the program is still establishing itself against other teams.

The small size of the team helps the players rely on each other during tournaments. Dahlia Thut, sophomore sustainability major, commended the team’s encouraging atmosphere.

“In terms of players I think we have a really great team dynamic, like we’re all friends and we really enjoy playing with each other and being with each other, which really helps,” Thut said.

Ines Villasenor Rodríguez, sophomore biochemistry and molecular biology major, reiterated Thut’s statement. “We work together,” she said. “We are more like a team.”

Villasenor Rodríguez also said one of her favorite parts of competing is the support from other players.

“One thing that makes disc golf very unique is the fact that the people you’re playing with want you to succeed as well,” Thut said.

The two said that rival teams sometimes give advice about how to improve, showing a different side of the competition that goes beyond the scores.

Head coach Jason Samuel is leading the program during its first season. Samuel also served as the tournament director for the Dash Bash.

“This fall, I am so excited about the players that we have on the team,” Samuel said.

The teams got an early taste of college competition in March when they faced Purdue University in an exhibition. That competition gave the players an opportunity to experience collegiate disc golf before beginning their first full varsity season.

This meet marks the team’s second of the season and first ever home meet. The team expressed their excitement about competing on their home turf. “Playing a course that you know makes a really big difference. Knowing what discs to throw on each hole, also having a sense of what’s coming next,” Thut said.

Jory Umble, sophomore nursing major, expressed the importance of familiarity with the course in a disc golf meet.

“For me, a routine is really, really important. So before every drive, before every second shot, every putt, I do the exact same thing every time, which eliminates a lot of the mental factors I would say,” Umble said.

The team will, once again, have a home course advantage for the regional tournament happening Oct. 30 through Nov. 1.

“We are hosting a regional where you can actually qualify for nationals … just going back to that home advantage, it’s pretty huge,” Umble said.

The Dash Bash is only one part of GC’s fall schedule. The Leafs are scheduled to compete in the Mid-Atlantic Collegiate Regional in Portersville, Pennsylvania, on Oct. 10-11. They will then travel to Morton, Illinois, for the Midwest Collegiate Takeover III on Oct. 24-25.

With reporting by Elly Wahll