Five Southern Illinois high school seniors have chosen John A. Logan College as their school of choice to play golf next fall. They are from left seated: Abby Miller (Anna-Jonesboro); Molly Borowiak (Nashville); Dana Kaufmann (Carterville); Alexa Bond (Marion) and Brittanie Garrison (Carmi). Standing in the back are Vols assistant coach Harry Melvin and head coach Bill Glenn. (Logan Media Services photo)

John A. Logan College women’s golf coach Bill Glenn wasted little time in filling available roster spots for next fall with the announcement of five new prep signings Wednesday evening.

And all are from Southern Illinois, including: Dana Kaufmann (Carterville); Molly Borowiak (Nashville); Brittanie Garrison (Carmi); Abby Miller (Anna-Jonesboro) and Alexa Bond (Marion).

That quintet will join three returning freshmen from this year’s Logan squad in Kelsey Cicardi (Pinckneyville), Katie Taylor (Trico) and Andrea Glodich (West Frankfort).

“It’s nice to sign all five of these girls at the same time. I think this is the first time I’ve done anything like this since I started coaching here,” Glenn said. “All these girls have the potential to play very well here at Logan and are the type of golfer I like – someone who truly enjoys the game and wants to work hard to improve each and every day.”

Kaufmann said she enjoyed her Carterville Lions experience and wanted to stay close to home, which is why she chose Logan over other schools.

“I’m excited about getting the opportunity to play at the college level,” she said. “I think I can get a lot better with Coach Glenn and Melvin (assistant coach Harry) guiding me. I also have been taking lessons for some time now from Brian Laur at Crab Orchard Golf Course. I didn’t start playing golf until my freshman year, but could tell by last year, that maybe I had a shot at playing at the next level.”

Kaufmann said good mental focus is probably her strong point and that developing her short game is her greatest concern.

Borowiak said Logan “just seemed to be the right fit” for her and is looking forward to competing at the collegiate level.

“To be honest, I always thought I’d be playing softball if I played a college sport, but as I improved in golf, I decided that was probably the route for me to go. I hit the ball pretty far off the tee. My chipping and putting need work, though, so I plan to spend a lot of time working on developing that part of my game before next fall.”

Garrison said she, too, does a pretty good job of driving the golf ball, but has much work to do on her short game in order to become a complete player.

“I’ve been wanting to play college golf since I was a freshman in high school, so yeah, I’m pretty excited about getting the opportunity to play at Logan next fall. I’m going to work hard to get ready between now and then.”

Miller said she simply felt “welcome” when making her campus visit to Logan recently.

“It’s also pretty close to home. I definitely think Logan is a good place for me to be and am excited to get a chance to show what I can do here. I am pretty consistent with my tee shots and approach shots, but definitely need work on my putting.”

Miller said playing golf at the collegiate level is something that has been on her mind for the last couple of years.

“It helps that Logan has enjoyed its share of success. I’d like to think I can make a difference.”

Bond said she is not the talent that her sister, Lauren, was with the Logan golf team a year ago, but would like to think that she will make rapid improvement in time.

“I’m very happy to be coming here to Logan and keep with the family tradition,” Bond said. “At first, I wasn’t really interested in playing golf at the college level, but Coach Glenn and Coach Melvin talked me into it. They got me excited about the idea. I guess my strength would be my short game, even though I still have work to do. What I want to work on most between now and next fall is hitting the ball longer off the tee while keeping it in play.”

Bond said she plans to compete in tournaments this spring and summer in an attempt to sharpen her skills.

“I want to get to the point where my bad rounds are in the 80s.”