NEWARK, Del. – When looking at the University of Delaware women’s golf roster, the geographic layout expands across the entire globe. However, there is one Blue Hen that has proudly called the First State home for her entire life. Christina Carroll, one of three seniors on the UD roster, is the lone Delawarean on a roster that features student-athletes from as far as Denmark and Russia.

A native of Bear, Carroll attended William Penn High School where she played golf and was also a part of the indoor track & field team. She was a well-decorated athlete, winning the 2019 DIAA Blue Hen Conference title and being named the 2020 William Penn Female Athlete of the Year, but was also an exceptional student as she earned multiple academic awards and was a member of the National Honor Society.

When it came time to start the recruiting process and look at schools to continue her golf career, Carroll admittedly wanted to go somewhere other than Delaware, looking for a southern school in a warmer climate that was more conducive to year-round golf. However, a variety of factors continued to pull her back to UD.

“Being born and raised in Delaware all my life, I wanted a change,” Carroll said. “I wanted to play golf somewhere where it was warm all year long. It ended up not being just sports that drove me to want to go here, but my major drove me to want to go here. And then my home course was one of the courses where Delaware practiced. My coach knew [Delaware head coach] Patty [Post] so I would see them have a clinic and the girls practice there too so it helped make me want to go here even more.”

Carroll has been a consistent part of UD’s lineup since she stepped foot on campus. She entered her senior season ranked fifth in Delaware history with a 75.51 career scoring average. And that number is only going down as, through the team’s first five tournaments in the fall, Carroll is averaging 74.27 strokes per round. Being the only Delawarean on the roster has always motivated Carroll and gives her an extra sense of pride when she dons the Blue & Gold.

“I want to represent Delaware well and also put us on the map. We are such a small state, even when I travel to places like California, people don’t know where Delaware is. I had the opportunity to qualify for some major tournaments like the U.S. Women’s Amateur and being able to carry my University of Delaware bag and represent Delaware, especially being the only woman from Delaware to qualify for that national event, was a very honorable moment for me.”

With her Blue Hen career beginning to wind down, Carroll has her sights set on what’s next. She is on track to graduate from the University of Delaware in May with a degree in electrical engineering and plans on moving to Southern California to begin preparing for a professional career. She will start Q-School in August with the hopes of earning her LPGA or Epson Tour card.

However, before Carroll can live out her dreams of playing professional golf, her focus is on improving her game in her final semester.

“I’m very excited to be competing, I love golf which is why I wanted to play in college so I’m really excited to get back out there. I think my mentality this spring is to do better than how I did last spring. During my junior year in the fall, I think I had a pretty good season which was something I was proud of, but I didn’t really finish how I wanted. I wanted to do it differently this year and finish stronger, especially since this is my last season.”

Carroll and her teammates open up the spring portion of their season this weekend when they play in the Reynolds Lake Oconee Invitational down in Georgia. The tournament is the first of five spring events for the Blue Hens as they gear up for the 2024 CAA Championships in April.

“Our team dynamic this year is really good. We’re more connected than I feel we’ve ever been in my four years here. Having a good team dynamic is very crucial to win championships and we have that so I believe we are in a pretty good position to accomplish those goals of winning the CAAs. We have a group full of very talented individuals too, so the more we can pour into each other and motivate each other to be our very best then that’s how we will get the job done.”

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