Over the past weeks the Salukis have been preparing for their first tournament of the season, Sunday’s Redbird Invitational hosted by Illinois State.

Despite all the players on the team working on their game all summer, only six players can represent SIU in the first tournament in Normal. The first five players qualified as a team, with the sixth qualifying as an individual.

Senior Cassie Rushing shot the best score qualifying rounds with a 372. Head coach Alexis Mihelich said after a former Illinois State player graduated last spring, Rushing is the golfer to beat in the Missouri Valley Conference.

“Now that Katie Jean is graduated, she is the best player in the conference,” Mihelich said.

Freshman Brooke Cusumano finished with a 392. Kristie Yang, the second freshmen to qualify as a member of the five-person team, shot a 397.

Fellow senior and former John A. Logan standout Alexis Gatton grabbed the fourth spot with a 399. Gatton was a member of the All Region 24 team her freshman and sophomore season as a member of the Lady Vols.

The only sophomore on the roster, Mattie Lindner, has the final team spot finishing with a 401. For the 2012-2013 season, Lindner was named a Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar. She also had the nine and 18-hole record at Lebanon High School her senior season.

Freshman Xianmei Jin finished sixth with a 403. Jin will compete as an individual in the tournament. Playing as an individual is normal for Jin, since her high school did not have a golf team.

The players competed at Dalhousie Golf Club in Cape Girardeau, Mo., for four rounds and finished qualifying at their home course, Hickory Ridge Golf Course in Carbondale.

Cusumano said playing at a difficult course like Dalhousie helps, because it makes players hit the ball down the middle. She said if the ball goes left or right it will end up in the tall grass and it will be hard to find.

“It weeds out people who can get away with hitting bad shots from people who are forced to,” she said. “It is much tougher than here (Hickory Ridge).”

Mihelich said having a strong player is vital.

“If we have a really strong number one, we can pretty much dominate every tournament,” she said.

Rushing was the only Saluki golfer to have all of her qualifying rounds in the 70s, on the final day of qualifying, nine of the 11 players shot 79 or below.

“I want to finish close to the top or on top every time,” Rushing said.

Cusumano played with Rushing on the final two days of qualifying. She said it was good to watch a player like Rushing execute many different types of shots on the golf course.

“It’s so cool to watch such a great player do their thing,” she said.

Rushing said she worked on her game a lot over the summer and is trying to get ready for her final season. She said it is her mental game that will help her the most.

“This year I am getting a lot of my confidence back,” she said. “I will come out a little stronger than I have in the past.”

Mihelich said her current freshmen have the competitive experience to do well this season and she is comfortable with starting them in her line-up because they have proven themselves.

Cusumano said that by looking ahead for the Salukis with three freshmen attending the first tournament, it shows what the team can achieve in the next few years.

“It is pretty cool because we are all so young, so we have a lot of time in front of us to get better,” she said. “It shows the depth of our team.”

Despite the Missouri Valley Conference championship being so far away, the team knows they have the ability to win.

Cusumano said the team has to play like they know they can and everything else will fall into place.

“If we just play our game,” she said, “we will win.”