The ISU women’s golf team hopes to carry over stellar play from its most recent tournament into this weekend’s Purdue Boilermaker Invite.

Last week the golfers set a new ISU 54-hole record by shooting a team 884, 10 strokes fewer than the previous record. On top of team scoring, its two senior leaders, Louise Kenney and Lisa Meshke set new records of their own.

Kenney shot a 2-under-par 214, setting a new 54-hole individual total, which beat Meshke’s previous record.

Meshke also set an 18-hole record, firing a 69 in the opening round.

“Starting off this spring we were just trying to find our groove, and I think that with the change in the weather and just getting more time on the course is really why we played so much better in Arizona,” Meshke said. “I’m confident that we will carry this over into the Purdue tournament this weekend.”

The tournament is a homecoming of sorts for new Cyclone coach Christie Hermes.

Hermes was an assistant coach at Purdue for five years and played collegiate golf at Northwestern. She was named head coach at Iowa State on Feb. 16, replacing Julie Manning, who resigned to take an administrative position at the University of Colorado.

“Having spent the last five years at Purdue, I know the course pretty well by now and should be able to give some very good pointers to the girls this weekend,” Hermes said.

The help from Hermes adds to the arsenal of a team that looks much like the same team that finished first on more than one occasion in the fall season. Consistency at the top with the two senior leaders, followed by the surging play of two freshmen and the above-average play of sophomore Christie Athas are making the Cyclones into a strong team as they move into the final stretches of the season.

With the solid play of the two seniors on the squad, two freshmen also elevated their games. Jessica Shin shot a new low for her career with rounds of 77, 75 and 77, and Kendra Hanson tied her 54-hole low with a 233.

Hermes coached the team to a top-five tournament finish in her second tournament as head of the ISU team.

“I think that without an official head coach there is a bit of chaos for the girls,” she said.

“I think that I was able to bring some stability to the team and that has helped the girls to better reach their goals.”