By Sara Hinds
The Doane women’s golf team made history this season, winning the conference title, qualifying for the NAIA national championships for the first time in program history and finishing 25th. Even more impressive is how they did it.
Four freshmen and one junior made up the conference championship team, with each individual placing in the top 25. The entire team is young. Of the 20 women who make up the roster, more than half are freshmen and only one senior graduates in May.
A young team requires leadership. A young team that exceeds expectations requires something extra. Something that’s easy to write off as destiny. For Doane, it was the bond between head coach Jim Danson and team captain and junior Kaitlyn Dumler.
Dumler, who went to Lincoln East, knew Danson as a friendly but rival high school golf coach at Lincoln Southwest. In 2023, she transferred to Doane her sophomore year to be closer to home. Danson was in his second season as the head coach at Doane. Dumler would go on to be named “GPAC Newcomer of the Year” that season.
Over the summer, Danson called Dumler.
“You’re going to be my team captain,” he told her.
Danson has a strong vision for his team and the type of athletes he recruits. They have to be coachable, possess a strong work ethic and act with integrity. He requires all that and more out of his team captain.
This individual would “bridge the gap” between players and himself. They’d communicate his vision to the team and lead by example on and off the course.
Danson saw the leadership potential in Dumler when she stepped onto the Doane campus. He trusted her to run the day-to-day operations and build the team culture.
“We share very similar core values, as far as the respect and responsibility and just the integrity part of that,” Danson said. “She's highly organized, her attitude is fantastic and she has a lot of respect for the program and for Doane as an institution itself.”
Dumler’s main focus was to welcome the freshmen to the team, to Doane and to college life as a whole. She paired up teammates who would then have to hang out outside of practice and snap a photo as proof. She kept track of her pairings on a spreadsheet. Then, once a month the entire team would attend a bonding event, say a BBQ or pool party at Dumler’s parents’ house in Lincoln. Steadily, a team culture emerged, and ultimately it came into play this season.
“I just think the success came from we played for ourselves, but more importantly, we played for each other,” Dumler said. “When somebody had a bad day, somebody else would step up and kind of fill what they couldn't give.”
By the end of the season, the absolute trust between Danson and Dumler trickled down into every individual and relationship on the team.
A young team comes with opportunities and challenges. The freshmen were hungry to win, Dumler said, but they hadn’t experienced the collegiate level of play before — and the culture shock that comes with being away from home for the first time. Dumler stepped in to guide the women both on and off the course.
It starts — and ends — with leadership. Dumler credits the coaching staff and their leadership. Danson says the team’s success wouldn’t be possible without Dumler.
“It really is refreshing to see a lot of my players understanding how to achieve something that they didn't think was possible,” Danson said.
