'00-'01 Golf

Rachel Maruno attended Iowa Lakes from '00-'01, she will be going into the Hall of Fame for Golf.

Rachel chose Iowa Lakes on a leap of faith. Two guys that she played golf with up in Vancouver, Canada decided to attend Iowa Lakes. During the first semester they were down here they called Rachel saying the Lakers were going to start a women’s golf team and the coach was interested in having her play!  So she left a city of a million people for a small town in Iowa… and the rest is history.

She has earned a number of accolades while at Iowa Lakes. In 2000 she earned NJCAA Div. II 1st team AllRegion for Region XI; and placed 12th at the NJCAA Div. II National Golf Tournament making her an All-American.

As a sophomore in 2001, Rachel was named NJCAA Div. II first team All-Region for Region XI; and placed 11th at the NJCAA Div. II National Golf Tournament making her a back-to-back All-American golfer.

Rachel’s fondest memories from Iowa Lakes include the people that she met here. She did not know what to expect, but was pleased with the welcoming spirit on campus, in particular, Mrs. Mari Burns.  Rachel said “her classes were fun, and she would always go the extra mile to help her students.”

Head Coach Dan Soper made the biggest impact on her while she was here, he would always be there for her on and off the course.

After graduating from Iowa Lakes, she attended the University of Missouri- Kansas City continuing her education and athletic career. At UMKC Rachel was named second team All Mid-Continent Conference in 2002 and first team All MCC in 2004.

She would like to thank her parents – Doug and Becky, an extra thanks to her Dad for coming to her commencement ceremony and her husband Russell who made the trip with her tonight.