A steady beat

Photo Courtesy of UT Athletics

(Left to right) Head coach Nicole Hollingsworth and senior Morgan Salm look out over the golf course. Toledo is on pace to finish best in school history.

After a successful fall season, the Toledo women’s golf team looks to complete its best season in school history and on that journey, in the month of February, the Rockets will celebrate heart month.

Head Coach Nicole Hollingsworth, who is in her 13th year as head coach, tackled heart disease head-on after experiencing first-hand the severity of the condition.

In the summer of 2015, Hollingsworth found herself facing a near-death experience after collapsing one afternoon. She quickly called 911, later saying that doing so helped save her life.

“I had lost 73 pounds before all this happened and that is probably what saved my life,” Hollingsworth said. “It might take me a day to feel better than I used to, but I don’t feel like I’ve missed a beat.”

She suffered from a heart condition that, according to medical professionals, was due to stress.

“I wasn’t sure if they would release me to ever coach again because it was a heart condition,” Hollingsworth said. “But we re-evaluated and it’s very clear that I will be able to continue to coach because we have figured out how to do it and not be as stressed doing it.”

For one day at each of their February tournaments, the women’s team will wear red shirts with UT and heart logos to celebrate National Wear Red Day and each player will hand out a facts card to other competing players.

“What’s cool is you’re going to get a bunch of young girls out there wearing red at a blue school and people are going to say, `Why are you wearing red? You’re the University of Toledo,’” she said.

Hollingsworth is hoping to help educate other young women about heart disease and how to stay healthy throughout the month of February.

According to the American Heart Association, one out of three women die of heart disease every year, which is killing approximately one woman every 80 seconds.

“It might not be what you see on the outside,” said Hollingsworth. “I mean you could be the healthiest-looking on the outside but you don’t know what is going on in the inside.”

While she is not at 100 percent yet, Hollingsworth says she is feeling good after just completing a four-month long cardiac rehab that took longer than normal due to her busy schedule.

“You figure out what is important and what’s not important,” she said. “Yeah, winning college golf tournaments is important but in the scheme of things, it’s not as important as if I wasn’t here. “

Not only has Hollingsworth proved to her medical team that she can continue to coach again, but she has proved it to the university as well.

The team, led by seniors Manisa Isavas, Sathika Ruenreong and Morgan Salm, is averaging a team score of 299 per tournament, which according to Hollingsworth is two or three strokes better than any time in school history.

“It’s the real deal,” Hollingsworth said. “These seniors have brought it and that’s the key. It’s not off and on; they have brought it every single time and that’s why we’re the best in school history.”

Before the end of the fall season, the Rockets won their final three tournaments, something that has never been done at UT.

“With it being our last semester, we want to put in the best work we can,” Salm said. “We want to get as far as we possibly can because after this we’re done.”

To carry on the past success from the fall into the spring season, UT will need to continue to work on ball striking and putting.

“We have to have the same focus on our game,” Isavas said. “Every stroke counts, you just have to stay focus and keep playing.”

During the offseason it can be a challenge to golf due to the weather but Toledo has found a way not letting that affect their game.

“We are very fortunate because we have a great practice facility,” Hollingsworth said. “So we can really get a lot of those things done and there is not a lot we miss except for playing on a golf course because of the weather.”

The Rockets haven’t competed since late October where they finished first in the FIU Pat Bradley Invitational. But, according to Hollingsworth, having that four-month gap between tournaments is good for the team.

“To have that break gives the players a chance to be a normal student,” Hollingsworth said. “Every day, it’s a competition.”

The women’s golf team had the Toledo athletics high 3.714 GPA for the fall semester while the overall athletic department averaged for a 3.216 GPA.

The Rockets leave for Florida this Wednesday where they will compete in the Florida Golf Coast University Eagle Invitational over the weekend.