The Internet has thousands of great uses. College recruiting has become one of them.

Tom Wronowski, the golf coach at Siena College in Loudonville, N.Y., received a call from a golfer named David Gushee, from Gorham. Gushee was interested in attending Siena and wanted to know if Wronowski was interested in having him.

Not knowing anything about Gushee, Wronowski fired up his computer and found everything he could have hoped for: scores from tournaments Gushee played in, Gushee’s opponents’ scores, how tough the course was, what the weather was like.

Wronowski knew within minutes that Gushee was someone he wanted to play golf at Siena. “The Internet is truly a wonderful thing,” said Wronowski.

That is how Gushee ended up at Siena and is now, as a sophomore, one of the Saints’ top scorers.

“Well, he has certainly made an impact for us since his first semester on campus,” said Wronowski. “And now we’re three weeks away from the conference championships and I fully expect him to be right there at the top.”

Gushee has had his outstanding moments for Siena. As a freshman, he was the highest Siena finisher in all three fall tournaments he played in, then was the high finisher in two of the five events in the spring. Last fall, he scored three top-20 finishers in four events for the Saints.

And most recently, he was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Golfer of the Month for March after he finished fourth at the Homewood Suites Siena Invitational in Florida — just two shots behind the winner.

“That was a nice building block,” said Gushee. “But (his next tournament) was a tough one. That’s the thing about golf, you can have a good tournament then a bad one. What you’ve got to do is shrug off the bad ones and build on your triumphs.

“You know you’ve got more good days ahead and you’ve got to shrug off the bad ones.”

That Gushee is performing so well at the Division I level is a testament to his talent and mental approach.

“David is learning his own game better,” said Wronowski. “He is long in distance. But he’s learning to understand about hitting the fairway and the greens in regulation. Hopefully, he’s becoming a smarter player.”

Gushee says that he has learned he can no longer simply drive the ball as far as he wants and get good scores. “You can’t just blast away, you’ve got to pick your spots,” he said. “Everything is much more meticulous at the college level. It’s much more of a mental adjustment.”

And, said Wronowski, Gushee is adjusting well.

“There’s always a transition to Division I golf,” he said. “David made it quicker than others.”

Gushee said he owed a lot of his success to the Maine Junior Golf program, especially the late Tom “T.K.” Kimball. “He was part of my growing up,” said Gushee. “I owe a lot to him. He was a great role model.”

He also learned, on his various Team Maine trips with Kimball, that golf isn’t always just an individual sport. He likes the team aspect, even more so now that he’s in college.

“We work out together, we practice more, we have meetings,” he said. “Team means everything. As much as golf is an individual sport, it’s also a team thing.”

LACROSSE

Keene (N.H.) State senior attack Lauren Sawyer of Westbrook recently set a school record with 10 assists and 13 points as the Owls beat New England College 20-8. She was named Little East Conference Women’s Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week. Sawyer leads the 4-5 Owls in scoring with 11 goals and 27 assists.

• Norwich University freshman Grace Fitzpatrick of Falmouth (Cheverus) was named the Great Northeast Athletic Conference Rookie of the Week, getting six goals, six caused turnovers and seven ground balls in her first two games.

• Junior midfielder Kate Otley of Cumberland (Greely) has 10 goals for 7-1 Hamilton College, ranked third in the nation. She also has collected 16 ground balls and 11 draw controls. Junior midfielder Ashley Allen of South Portland (Waynflete) has contributed six goals, three assists, five ground balls and eight draw controls for the Continentals while sophomore midfielder Mariah Monks of Cape Elizabeth (Waynflete) has three goals.

SOFTBALL

Sophomore second baseman Katie Lang of Kennebunk is batting .295 for 13-11 Gettysburg (Pa.) College. She has two doubles, a triple, one home run, 10 RBI and eight runs scored.

• Wesleyan freshman Laura Getchell from Raymond (Gray-New Gloucester) is 2-2 for the 8-13 Cardinals. She has a team-best 2.70 ERA with 38 strikeouts and 18 walks in 361/3 innings pitched. Getchell recently pitched a two-hit shutout over Middebury.

TENNIS

Gettysburg sophomore Kelsey Boyce of Arrowsic (Morse) is 5-3 in her singles matches. Boyce, who plays No.6 singles, is also 6-2 in No.3 doubles, playing with two partners.

TRACK AND FIELD

Holy Cross freshman Christy Manning of Scarborough had a strong showing in the recent New Hampshire Invitational. She placed fifth in the discus (35.02 meters), seventh in the hammer throw (39.13) and sixth in the javelin (35.73).

Earlier this season, she had two top-five finishes for the Crusaders in the Worcester City Championships. Manning was second in the javelin with a throw of 34.42 and fifth in the hammer throw with a distance of 36.76.

• Stonehill junior Pak Lul of Portland (North Yarmouth Academy) finished 11th in the 400 meters (51.04 seconds) in the recent Bryant University Invitational.

 

Staff Writer Mike Lowe can be contacted at 791-6422 or at:

mlowe@pressherald.com