In its first conference tournament this season, the Macalester men’s golf team put up one of its best finishes in years to place eighth out of 16 teams.

Led by a 10th place effort by Kramer Lawson ’05, the team tallied a score of 647 to finish in the middle of the pack on the heels of Macalester’s victory last week at the Augsburg invitational and gave them a nine-game winning streak.

Lawson finished with an 8-over-par, scoring 152 in the 16-hole competition. Eric Kelsey ’07 followed with a 161 and Wes McFarland ’05 finished close behind with a 163. Zach Youmans ’05 and Tony Pratt ’07 rounded out the scoring with a 181 and a 177, respectively.

“Last year we routinely had to take scores in the 90’s,” Lawson said, referring to one-day scoring totals. “This year it’s all been in the 70’s and 80’s.”

Thanks to a strong recruiting class and a high turnover of top players, the team has moved out of the MIAC’s cellar and has positioned itself to compete for a place in the top half of the conference.

“It’s probably the best recruiting class we’ve had in a while,” Lawson said, referring to first-years Kelsey, Pratt and Ben Finkenbinder.

The added depth gives the golfers an advantage larger teams take for granted. If a team has sufficient numbers, five players can compete while only the top four scores will count in the overall team standings.

“We won’t make a run for the title, but it’s a solid jump from last year,” Lawson said. “We expect to be in the middle of the MIAC if scores continue as they have been going this year. Our goal is to beat Carleton.”

While the level of play might appear mediocre by some standards, it’s a vast improvement over previous years. During the last four years, the Scots have beaten only one team in the MIAC Conference Championships. And at the 2002 St. John’s Invitational, the team placed second to last in 18th place.

If all goes well, those days may be over. In the season opener two weeks ago, the team carded a 645, the best score by a Macalester golf team in at least five years.

The women’s team is also boasting an increased roster. Last year, although Kristy Schaaf ’02 finished fifth at the NCAA Division III women’s golf championships, the team only had two players, both of whom were seniors. With their graduation, Coach Martha Nause was facing the possibility of no 2003 women’s team.

However, Nause succeeded in the task of recruiting four women golfers, resulting in a young, all-first-year team with plenty of time to improve. The team placed last at the Small College Invitational at Lakeside Golf Club in Waseca,Minn. their second competition of the season. Kylie Thomson ’07, and Grace Arnold ’07 led the team scoring with two-round scores of 199 and 202, respectively.

This weekend, the men travel to Northfield for the Carleton Invitational. The women compete Saturday at the Luther Invitational in Decorah, Iowa.

The women’s next MIAC conference meet is October 4-5 in Winona, Minn. and the men’s next conference meet is October 3-4 in Coon Rapids, Minn.