FAYETTE, Iowa - The Upper Iowa women's golf team starts the 2025-26 season at the Wartburg Fall Invitational on Saturday and Sunday. The tournament takes place at the par-72 Prairie Links Golf Club in Waverly, Iowa. Head coach Mike Lewis enters his 15th season with the program in 2025-26.
MEET THE PEACOCKS: RETURNERS
The Peacocks return four out of five golfers from last year's team in junior Brynn Bonefas, senior Lizzy Ellis, graduate Delaney Martin and sophomore Addison Weber.
"I'm excited to have four returners that played in every tournament last year," Lewis said. "There's a wealth of knowledge to the golf courses that we're playing at this fall. We are playing at four of the five courses that we played last fall, and one of them is a local course. There is some good course knowledge there."
Weber and Martin are the top returners for the Peacocks. At last spring's Upper Iowa Invitational, Weber took 11th and Martin took 12th.
"Addison has the length to really dominate golf courses," Lewis said. "She's a sophomore and still has some learning to do being an underclassman."
Martin also started strong last fall with a 14th-place finish at The Mustang Fall Championship.
"Delaney is our senior-most leader," Lewis said. "She does the right things on and off the course. She's a graduate student now and is looking to accomplish some great things in her last year of eligibility."
The two women also bring different playing styles to the team. Weber stands at 6-2 while Martin is 5-3, contrasting their styles.
"It's totally different games," Lewis said. "Delaney hits a lot of fairways, and if she doesn't hit the green, her short game is really good. Addison hits it 40-50 yards past her, but sometimes Delaney is closer to the hole. It's a great one-two punch for us."
MEET THE PEACOCKS: NEWCOMERS
Upper Iowa has one newcomer this season in freshman Fern Babinski from Grand Rapids, Michigan.
"Fern is going to get a lot of playing time. She's gone through qualifying fine. She has the ability to hit it far. Being a freshman traveling, that's some great experiences that she can follow up on next year. We're excited to have her, and she will contribute for sure."
SCHEDULE AT A GLANCE
After this weekend's Wartburg Fall Invitational, the Peacocks will travel to Troy Burne Golf Course in Hudson, Wisconsin, on Sept. 15-16 for the CSP/MSU Fall Brawl. Upper Iowa will compete at Winona State's (Minn.) Jewel Invitational on Sept. 22-23, Lewis' (Ill.) Flyer Fall Intercollegiate on Oct. 6-7 and McKendree's (Ill.) Bearcat Dual Gender on Oct. 20-21.
"We always like going up to Minnesota and battling our NSIC foes from years past," Lewis said. "I have some great relationships with those fellow coaches. It's always nice to go up to Minnesota in the fall and play at two quality golf courses at The Jewel and Troy Burne. Competing up there in the fall is always nice and refreshing as the leaves change. Just a beautiful area to play golf in."
