Arizona women’s golf coach Laura Ianello doesn’t mince words when she talks about freshman Julia Misemer.

“He’s going to be a star,” Ianello said. “She has what it takes.”

That’s high praise from someone from Ianello’s résumé (the coach is a former UA team captain, All-Pac-12 performer, and owner of two national championship rings: one from his playing days and another as coach since 2018).

Through Team UA’s first three tournaments in the Spring schedule, Misemer rose, week after week, toward the top. She most recently was the Wildcats’ top golfer at the Therese Hession Regional Challenge in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., and she finished in the top 20 overall in each of the team’s three tournaments so far this season. That includes a top-10 finish at Match in the Desert outside of Phoenix in January and a top-three finish from Arizona every time.

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“It has the absolute best handling on and off the golf course,” added Ianello. “He doesn’t take himself too seriously, but he has a very strong work ethic.”

Misemer, a native of Overland Park, Kansas, has competed in all seven events for the Wildcats so far in her freshman season; which includes four in the fall and three this spring. She has the third-best scoring average (74.32) on the team and recorded Arizona’s lowest single-round scoring this season when she had a 66 on day one at the Pac-12 preview.

“So far it has gone quite well for me and for the team. I feel that personally I could always do a little better and I’m definitely getting there.

“But I think our team was really close to breaking through and being really hot.”

Perhaps it will come this weekend when Arizona heads east for the Gator Invitational in Gainesville, Florida. The 54-hole tournament takes place on Saturday and Sunday and features teams from the ACC, SEC, Big Ten and Pac-12, among other conferences.

As a team thus far, Arizona has finished fourth, sixth and seventh in the first three tournaments of the spring season. Ianello, in her 13th season on the job, is still confident in the overall team — which includes her ability to take the next step to winning her first tournament of the season — even though the Wildcats haven’t gotten the results they wanted so far.

Part of that buildup may be due to Arizona’s rather young roster this season, Ianello said.

Six of its eight players are freshmen or sophomores.

“So far we are showing our youth a bit. This team is extremely talented, but we haven’t been able to put it together,” Ianello said. “I would say consistently it’s been a bit off track, but luckily for us it’s still early spring.

In addition to Misemer, the Wildcats added freshman for the spring semester in Maria Cabanillas from Argentina. Cabanillas won the Pehuen de Oro award which is given to the best female golf player in Argentina. Cabanillas played in the team’s first spring event at Match in the Desert where she tied Misemer at 3-under and 8th overall.

Despite the program’s youth movement, the Wildcats’ best golfer so far this season has been the most experienced: .

Starkute is averaging a team-best 73.30 per round of 18, while finishing with a team-best score in four of seven tournaments: fall or spring.

Starkute is from Vilnius, Lithuania, where he won the Lithuanian championship three times before coming to Tucson. In a team with so many young players, Starkute is the only senior on the team on the roster.

“Gile paved the way for us this year. I think she’s achieved a lot in every event we’ve played,” said Ianello. “(Last) summer and this year she’s really pushed herself to see how good she can get. As a senior leader and captain we needed her to be , he really did a phenomenal job.

“She is outstanding. A great student, a great leader. She shows up every day with a good attitude and good composure on the golf course,” added Ianello. “She is amazing.”

Starkute, Misemer and Cabanillas will be joined by Carolina Melgrati and Lilas Pinthier as Arizona’s lineup at this weekend’s Gator Invitational. The other teams in the tournament host Florida, Campbell, Clemson, Florida Atlantic, Florida International, Miami, Michigan, Mississippi State, North Carolina State, UCF, UCLA and Augusta.

Freshmen or not, Misemer said she has ambitious goals for both herself and the Wildcats starting this weekend.

“My personal goal is to win a tournament this spring. That’s a goal, but I’d be really happy to get top five in a tournament,” Misemer said. “So as a team, the first goal is to win Florida this (week), and then just get through the postseason and win a national championship”.

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