By Michael Sorrell Cavalier Daily Senior Writer Things can sure change in a year's time. Just ask Jenni Arseneault of the University of Virginia women's golf team. Last May, the first-year Iowa native had signed a letter of intent to play varsity golf for Tulane University. She was all set to be part of the Green Wave's well-established golf tradition. She was going to spend her next four years in sunny New Orleans, amid the jazz, bright lights and debauchery.
Then Hurricane Katrina struck. Tulane closed its doors to students and suspended its sports programs indefinitely. Arseneault found herself without a school and, perhaps even more discouragingly, without a team. In short, Mother Nature had forced her hand. Arseneault thus did what any self-respecting mid-westerner would have done -- she rose to the challenge.
Arseneault graduated from high school and changed colleges, enrolling at the Virginia. She managed to ingratiate herself with the members of Virginia's women's golf team and acclimate herself to Charlottesville and college life. What is more, Arseaneault did all of this half a year earlier than those in her Florida prep school class who had not been dislodged from their prior college commitments.
"I graduated high school [half a year] early [and enrolled at Virginia in January], mainly because I wanted to get a head start on things," Arseneault said. "If things work out how I am hoping they will, then my last semester of college I will be in Qualifying School for the LPGA."
The forward-looking freshman, affectionately termed "half-year" by her teammates, might very well be on course to accomplish this goal. In January she joined a women's golf team that has achieved national prominence in just a few years of existence. Established in 2002 with the hiring of current coach Jan Mann, the Virginia women's golf team finished No. 13 in the NCAA Women's Gold National Championship in 2005. The team also worked its way to a third place finish in the highly competitive ACC, which resulted in Mann garnering ACC Coach of the Year honors. Astonishingly, Mann and the Cavaliers managed these achievements without the presence of one senior on the team -- a feat that is rarely seen in today's world of ultra-competitive college sports.
As a result of her January enrollment, Arseneault abruptly finds herself part of this new, overachieving tradition in women's golf at the University.
"I was really nervous about joining the team and starting school halfway through the year," Arseneault said. "But the team and coach Mann have made the transition so easy for me."
With "half-year" jitters gone, now all that remains for Arseneault is focusing on golf. This should not be too difficult a task for a seventeen-year-old who boasts a stellar high school golf career and who can already put a high school diploma on her resume. Focusing on and improving her game will also be made easier by the talented members of the team whom Arseneault now call her teammates and friends. Among them, Sally Shonk, Lindsay Robinson, Kristen Simpson and Kira Mayo all placed in the top 35 at William & Mary Invitational March 26 and helped Virginia to a third place team finish.
Most recently, Leah Wigger finished eighth overall at Bryan National Collegiate last weekend.
There certainly is incentive for Arseneault to someday follow in the footsteps of her older teammates and bring similar success to the team.
"I set a lot of individual goals," Arseneault said. "[I want to be] top 10 in every tournament, All-American, All-ACC, Top-20 national ranking. But nothing I can accomplish individually will mean as much as us accomplishing our team goals. I want more than anything for us to win ACCs, regionals and nationals."
Mann offered nothing but superlatives for her youngest and perhaps most ambitious player. Mann remarked that Arseneault had not only adjusted well with her teammates but had also set high academic standards, both for her and the team. Furthermore, she suggested that Arseneault's present contributions to the team are equally meritorious as her admirable future goals.
In any event, as the past year of Arseneault's life has shown, change is not necessarily a bad thing -- at least when it involves coming to the Virginia to play golf.
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