While the ISU women’s golf team was headed last season by a veteran senior duo, a freshman appears ready to lead the Cyclones going forward.

At the Stanford Intercollegiate on Oct. 19, freshman Celia Barquin finished in a tie for 12th place to lead or co-lead the team for the third time in four events. In doing so, Barquin posted a 211 total, the second-lowest 54-hole total in school history.

Just five days after tying for third place at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational, Barquin continued her consistent play to finish near the top of a leaderboard that featured 11 of the nation’s top-25 players.

In 12 rounds, Barquin is the only Cyclone to avoid a round in the 80s and her 73.08 stroke average is the best on the team by nearly one full shot.

Despite her success, Cajsa Persson said Barquin has stayed humble in either success or failure.

“You can’t tell with her if she played good or bad,” Persson said. “You’ll go over to her and you’ll have no idea. I’ll ask, ‘Oh, how did you play?’ ‘Oh yeah, I shot three-under, it’s okay.’ She’s just chill about everything.”

Her even-keeled focus on the course and polished short game are aspects that drew ISU coach Christie Martens to recruit Barquin to Iowa State.

“I was really impressed with her demeanor on the course when I saw her play in France,” Martens said. “She hits the ball so straight and is a great putter.”

Her strong play, particularly in her last two events, has helped the Cyclones recover from a rocky start.

“We didn’t really play well in New Mexico,” Barquin said of her team’s 11th-place finish at the Branch Law Firm/Dick McGuire Invitational on Sept. 16. “But since then I think we’ve all gotten a lot better, and we are having better results.”

Since finishing at the bottom of a relatively weak field in New Mexico, the Cyclones have finished on the upper half of the leaderboard in its final three events of what is projected to be a top-25 ranked schedule.

Though the Cyclones have struggled to a 3-16 record against top-25 opponents, they ended up with a respectable 36-24 comparative record after finishing in seventh place at its final fall event at Stanford.

The team has received several top-25 individual finishes from Barquin, senior Chonlada Chayanun and freshman Nattapan Siritrai but is lacking contributions from the fourth and fifth starting spots, an aspect that often separates the good teams from the great in collegiate golf.

Persson, who is fourth on the team in stroke average, has shown signs of regaining her form from last fall where she led the team in all three events.

At Stanford she posted her three lowest rounds of the year en route to finishing tied for 21st place.

“It feels like I found myself and the game I usually play,” Persson said. “I felt confident for most of my round, so that was very important for me to play well.”

She said her mindset was essential to revitalizing her game which had yet to yield a round of par or better until this week.

“I just re-focused and [tried] to think of every shot as a new opportunity to make good things happen,” Persson said. “I just had a positive mindset and a motivation to play well.”

The ISU women’s golf team has concluded its fall season. Their next event will be Feb. 8 at the Central Florida Challenge.