Williams College began the golf season with an interim head coach and aspirations for a national championship. The coach, Bill Kangas, did his part, and the Ephs achieved their goal in grand fashion.
“It’s pretty surreal actually,” Kangas told iBerkshires.com about the team’s May 15 victory in the Division III Women’s Golf Championships in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. “You know the kids are out there grinding all day, and all of a sudden the last player hits the final putt and you realize you’re the national champions.”
Williams captured the school’s first national golf title by an 18-stroke margin over second-place Wittenberg University. Sophomore Sophie Kitchen led the Ephs with a 20-over-par 308, good for third in the individual standings, and her team placed four golfers among the top 21 finishers.
Kangas, an assistant coach for the women’s golf team for five years, took over as head coach on an interim basis when Erika DeSanty moved to Princeton University before the season. Kangas performed an unusual head-coaching double in 2014-15, serving his 26th season as the men’s ice hockey coach as well as leading the women’s golf team.
Williams had advanced to the NCAA tournament in each of the five previous seasons and finished third in 2014. So, as the Ephs viewed it, shooting for a national crown seemed the next logical step.
“Winning the national championship was our goal from the start of the year. … To finally have the stamp that yes, we are that good, is amazing,” senior captain Shelby Shote told the Berkshire (Massachusetts) Eagle.
