A strong finish to the fall golf season has women’s golf coach Julie Manning looking for more big things from the Cyclones in the spring.

Ranked 38th nationally in the most recent poll in Golfweek magazine, Manning said she thinks her squad can make some noise in the Big 12. Although there are five teams in the conference ranked higher, she said Iowa State can challenge perennial top teams Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas and Missouri.

The Cyclones are also ranked 15th in the central division, which Manning and the golfers said is the strongest division thus far.

“Overall, we had a very successful fall season, and we accomplished many of the goals the captains and I had,” Manning said.

“The team chemistry has been so good, it made it a really enjoyable fall season.”

Captains Lisa Meshke and Louise Kenney said they also enjoyed their fall season, and it showed in their scores. Kenney is ranked 43rd and has two tournament victories; Meshke has one tournament victory and a 49th-place national ranking. Along with Christi Athas, the Cyclones have what Manning called a “three-headed monster” that should lead them to more success in the spring.

“We haven’t really overachieved, we just performed like I thought we would,” Manning said.

“As a team, we can do more when we get our fourth and fifth score lower.”

The fourth and fifth positions are still up for grabs, as Erica Dahl, Stefanie Nelson, Karly Pinder, Kendra Hanson and Jessica Shin have all seen ISU tournament time.

The freshmen have especially impressed Manning. Hanson, Pinder and Shin have stepped right into the fire in their first semester at college and, although there have been ups and downs, are developing into solid golfers.

“We clearly have the talent. There is no doubt we have some great golfers on the team, and the freshmen have accumulated lots of experience on the road,” Manning said. “I’m sure one of our goals now is to vie for a Big 12 championship.”

Iowa State started the fall in fine fashion, taking the Notre Dame Invitational crown and coming in second to San Francisco at the Ron Moore Intercollegiate Tournament in Denver. A slightly disappointing 10th-place finish in Lubbock, Texas, followed, but the Cyclones rebounded to a fourth-place finish in the Marilynn Smith Invitational at Kansas before finishing first in their last tournament of the fall, the Lady Razorback Invitational in Fayetteville, Ark., on Oct. 17.

“Our two victories were high points, especially our second one,” Meshke said. “It was a little more recent and it was a big tournament. We played a lot of teams ranked higher up than us in the Golfweek Magazine rankings. That last tournament really catapulted us up in the rankings.”

As for the offseason, outdoor golfing isn’t the most enjoyable winter activity in Ames.

“For the freshman class, it is just getting stronger. The upperclassmen will work on their swing mechanics, talking to the local golf pros and watching videotape of their swing to try and find any flaws,” Manning said. “Putting is another indoor activity for the winter.”

Manning has been busy so far with individual conferences, talking to each golfer about the fall and what she wants to accomplish in the spring. She said she doesn’t want to pressure them with what she expects in the spring, she just wants to “plant a seed that it can be done” and watch that seed grow into a Big 12 championship.

The road to the championship resumes in late February, at the Central District challenge in Parrish, Fla. Then comes a trip to Las Vegas and a reunion with Missy Ringler, a former ISU golfer who played under Manning.