When tragedy struck Tuesday in Littleton, Colo., five members of the Iowa State women’s golf team were in the nearby city of Denver participating in the Big 12 Championship.

ISU women’s golf head coach Julie Manning said she first started to realize something was happening in Littleton when the Nebraska golf coach started talking about it. She said word of the atrocity spread “across the golf course.”

Manning noted that the ISU women’s golf team was in Norman, Okla., the same time of the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.

“Four years ago, we were in a similar situation,” she said. “I don’t think you have any idea of the magnitude of that at the time. Unfortunately, you’re still caught up in what you’re doing. [But later], it really starts to hit home a bit.”

Heather Elenbaas, member of the golf team, said she first realized something was amiss while she was practicing on the putting green Tuesday.

She said she heard a passersby discussing something about “black trench coats” in a hushed tone.

“I wasn’t paying a whole lot of attention, [but] you could kind of tell that something was wrong; what they were talking about wasn’t normal,” said Elenbaas, senior in management information systems.

Elenbaas said she and the four other teammates who made the trek to Denver learned about the shootings in full when they arrived back at their hotel in Boulder, Colo.

“We went back to our rooms to take showers and what not, then we heard it on the news,” she said, noting reports of the massacre were on every local channel. “There was no other news at all.”

Elenbaas said she and her teammates were horrified at the news.

“We were just shocked; we thought it was terrible,” she said.

Noel Jacobusse, golf team member, also expressed shock at the shootings.

“It’s just unbelievable that something can happen like that; that people can be so senseless,” said Jacobusse, sophomore in exercise and sport science.

She also noted the surreal nature of being geographically near the biggest high school shooting in U.S. history.

“It didn’t really feel like we were close to it,” Jacobusse said.

For golfer Glynnis McMath, the shooting struck close to home.

“I’m from Oklahoma, so it reminded me of the bombing,” said McMath, junior in child and family services.

“[Also], my brother’s in high school, and I think about how easily it could happen at his school,” she said.

McMath said one of her most prominent memories of the day will be the blue ribbons the members donned in support of the victims. She also said for her, the tragedy put a lot of matters in perspective.

“It just makes you think that we were so caught up in competing,” she said. “It just reminds you how unimportant golf is in the whole scheme of things.

“They were fighting for their lives the same time I was playing golf. It makes me feel kind of guilty, I guess,” McMath said.

Jacobusse said when the inevitable retrospect of the shootings happens, she’ll remember her time at the tournament.

“When it comes up in the news … I’ll think I was golfing there when it happened … it’s nothing to be proud of,” she said.