May 3, 2007

It's an exciting time for the four senior members of the TCU women's golf team.

Coming off a win at the Mountain West Conference Championship, the Frogs are headed to the NCAA Regionals in Ann Arbor, Mich., on May 10. After that, however, the seniors' futures are less certain.

Catherine Matranga and Elin Emanuelsson, both communication studies majors, hope to continue their golf careers after graduation, while Camille Blackerby, a mechanical engineering major, and Stacey Bieber, an entrepreneurial management major, will likely enter the work force.

What ties these women together, however, is their four years at TCU and the time's effect on both their athletic and personal lives.

"It changes you," said Matranga, who will graduate in December. "You grow so much with everything you go through ... the way I view golf has changed. As a person, you grow up in four years."

Blackerby echoed Matranga's estimation of her time as a Horned Frog.

"It's definitely made me a better person," Blackerby said. "You change and grow up a lot from your freshman to your senior year, and a lot of that depends on where you go to school. TCU was the right choice for me."

While the academic side of her TCU experience has taught her certain things about life in the working world, Emanuelsson said, golf has too.

"I think I've gotten tougher," she said. "For coach (Angie Ravaioli-Larkin), the rules that apply in the business life are important. You can't be late. You can't make up excuses for everything. You have to stay organized."

But even while following Ravaioli-Larkin's real-world rules, the golfers made some memories.

"Going to Hawaii was so much fun," Bieber, who will graduate in December, said. "The four of us seniors -- we started out as freshmen together. We've just grown up together. It was so fun to get to go to that tournament together."

In the end, the women have varying attitudes about leaving their lives at TCU behind.

"I'm ready," said Emanuelsson, who will return to her native Sweden after graduation. "I mean I'm probably going to go home and say `dang, I miss everything,' but right now I'm ready to go home to my family and kind of start anew."

"I definitely have mixed feelings," Bieber said. "We have workouts where you're up at five (a.m.) a couple of days a week. I'm just ready to make my own schedule but, at the same time, there are so many memories.

"We are all so close."