Former Bedford North Lawrence girls golf star Olivia Sanders helps IU East win first title

RICHMOND — Olivia Sanders wants to make one thing perfectly clear: When she goes out for a round of golf, she wants to play, but she is definitely not playing around.

Whether it's golf, some driveway hoops, or college-style cornhole, Sanders is a competitor with a clear-cut goal.

"I want to win," Sanders said.

Well, the former Bedford North Lawrence girls golf star has accomplished a lot of that during her young life.

Sanders, now a freshman playing for Indiana University East in Richmond, joined four teammates — including Brooklyn Cromwell of Orleans — to lead the Red Wolves to the first River States Conference women's golf championship in school history on Tuesday, April 26 at Belterra Resort in Florence, In.

IU East advances to the NAIA Women's Golf National Championship scheduled for May 24-27 at Lincoln Park West in Oklahoma City, Ok.

It's another notch on Sanders' victory belt. She won four sectional championships, made a couple of trips to the IHSAA State Finals, and was a Hoosier Hills Conference individual medalist and team champ while at BNL.

Sanders also won a Women's City Championship and Girls Junior City Championship at Otis Park before departing for college, where she has no intention of changing her attitude.

"I think that's why you play, to compete," Sanders said. "We filled out a form before the season started and one of the questions asked us why we wanted to play college golf for IU East? Some of the girls put 'To have fun' or 'Be with my friends.'

"I put 'Winning. I want to win.' If I'm going to play something I'm going out there to win, or help my team win. I've always thought that made it more fun."

Red Wolves attack in pack

As their nickname would indicate, the Red Wolves took their title with a pack attack, a true, total team effort. IU East rallied to edge defending champion Midway University, 992-994, in the 54-hole, three-day event at the par-72, 5,830-yard course.

Sanders shot a 79 in the final round and was one of just two players in the conference to break 80 in the last round. That brilliant bring-it-home round moved her up nine spots on the leaderboard to sixth place with a 251 and earned her second-team all-conference honors.

Senior Jo Wisecup, the team's No.1, shot a 76 in the opening round and finished second overall at 237 after sinking a birdie putt on the final hole to seal the team victory. Cromwell, a sophomore, carded a 78 in the second round and wound up third overall at 249 as both she and Wisecup were named first team All-RSC.

Sophomore Annie Gillock finished 16th with a 261 and represented IU East on the RSC Champions of Character team. Freshman Katie Craig came through in the clutch with a final-round 86, her career-best and one of the top 10 scores of the day as she finished in a tie for 18th at 267.

"It was an emotional day on a lot of fronts, but this is the most resilient team that I have ever been a part of, and we deserve to be RSC Champions!" said IU East coach Billy Mullin on the team website. "Our 2 freshmen, Liv and Katie (Craig) were spectacular today and really drove us to victory. It took all five girls all three rounds to get this done.

"Jo's approach shot on 18 was one of the best pressure shots I have ever witnessed."

Now that was fun!

"It was really exciting," Sanders said. "It was the first time in school history we've won conference, so it's really cool to be a part of it. Going into it we all knew that we had to play extremely well to beat Midway.

"Everybody picked it up. Jo Wisecup is just a great golfer and she birdied the 18th hole with everything riding on it (her Midway counterpart bogeyed the par-5 to account for the two-stroke victory margin), Brooklyn played great, I was happy with how I played, and Katie Craig really came through.

"As a freshman, I wasn't sure what to expect, but dreams for sure came true. I'm very proud of this team and how everyone played.

"It really did take every score."

Team bonding key to title

Craig became a vital cog after the team encountered what could have been a devastating setback just before the tournament when the No.2 player opted to leave the squad.

Instead of splintering, however, Sanders said the team drew closer.

"About a week prior to the conference tournament our No.2 player quit on us, which was pretty bad and that's all we'll say about that," Sanders explained. "But it turned out okay. Everybody on this team is very competitive and wants to win, and once she quit we all got together and said that we had to start playing for each other and the team again. That's what we did in the tournament.

"We were down four shots going into the last round and knew we had to bring our game up. Katie had been our No.6 player, but she moved up to No.5. We were out on the driving range before the last round, and she said, 'Liv, I'm going to shoot my best score of the season today.' It had been 87 and she went out and shot 86. It was awesome.

"Everybody contributed and that made it really special."

The two Times-Mail area players have connected extremely well. Cromwell, with Orleans just 15 miles south of Bedford, has been a mentor of sorts to Sanders.

"I love having Brooklyn there," Sanders said. "That's my home girl. She took me under her wing immediately when I got there, and I definitely needed her there to help push me out of my comfort zone and meet new people.

"Overall, the team was very welcoming to all of the incoming freshmen."

Who is that assistant coach?

Sanders enjoyed some extra motivation by her side during the tournament. Her former BNL head coach, Aaron Sanders, also happens to be her dad, and he joined in at the invitation of Mullin.

Looks like he'll be wearing coaching shoes on the the trip to Oklahoma, too.

"That was pretty neat having him out there as an assistant," said Liv, who is an elementary education major and plans to join her dad and mom, Angie, as a teacher. "I compared it to the same feeling I got at the State Finals when we walked up to 18 together, just a special feeling.

"We got up there this time and I was just off the green. Dad said, 'Hey kid, how about you just step up and chip this one in, you know you can do it' I kind of looked at him and then I chipped it in and finished with a 79. I said, 'Hey, maybe you were right.'

"I probably shouldn't tell him I said he was right."

Let's give Liv a break. She's just a freshman and still has to learn that dad is always right.

Contact Times-Mail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Former Bedford golf star Olivia Sanders helps IU East claim RSC title