The Iowa State women’s golf team has two recent additions, after two high school seniors signed letters of intent to continue their careers as Cyclones.

Erin Denefe, a senior at Ottumwa High School, and Henna Chou, a senior at Blue Valley Northwest High School in Overland Park, Kan., are the newest members of the Cyclone squad.

As a junior, Denefe led her team to the 1997 Class 3A state championship, earning medalist honors.

She has been the No. 1 golfer on her team for the last three years, and she tied for 10th at the Women’s State Amateur in Burlington last season.

The other new linkster, Chou, was the 1997 Overland Park Junior Golf champion and has been the top golfer on her team the past two years. She earned all-state honors as a junior.

Coach Julie Manning said both girls will make exceptional additions to the squad.

“They are replacing three seniors on our team, making it a very young one with three sophomores and three freshmen starting; but they both have good national experience, and hopefully they won’t even realize that they’re freshmen and can swing right into things,” Manning said.

The recruiting process began early for Denefe, when Manning heard about her “good reputation within the state.”

Manning saw her play at the state tournament and followed up with recruitment.

As for Chou, Manning saw her play in about 50 percent of her meets and began recruiting her last summer.

Manning has since developed close relationships with both of the recruits and said she is anxious for them to come to ISU next fall.

“Both of the girls are very good students and very involved in school activities. Erin has a 4.0 and will likely be valedictorian of her class and is active in music and drama. She is already very diversified, so it will be exciting for her to come here and focus even more. Henna is also a very unique girl. She plays six instruments and speaks three languages,” said Manning.

Manning hopes to sign a third golfer sometime in April.

The present Cyclone golfers had the chance to meet their new teammates when the two women visited for the recruit trip.

“They’ll be a great addition to our team and I think they’ll fit in really well with our program. They’re both motivated and ready to come in and start working hard,” said Cathy Matthews, co-captain and a senior in exercise science.

“They both seem like really great girls. I am sure they’ll be strong contributors to the program next year, said Cathy Ennis, a freshman in exercise science.

“Our team will be young, so it will be like starting over. We had a lot of fun when they were here for the recruit trip, so hopefully it can just carry over from that,” she added.