Reagan Jahn sets Lehigh women’s golf program record

Senior Reagan Jahn and her family were in their hotel room celebrating her performance during her first round of golf during the spring season when a friend sent her a Twitter post to her. Up until that moment, she thought she had just had a good day on the course.

As she read the words displayed on her phone, Jahn said her jaw dropped. She just found out that she had set not one, but two Lehigh program records.

Jahn began her season on the Lehigh women’s golf team with a record-setting performance last week at the Kiawah Island Spring Classic in South Carolina. A senior captain, Jahn carded the top finish of any Patriot League golfer at the tournament, tying for 28th place with a score of 219, shooting three over par.

Her performance set a new program record for a 54-hole tournament, surpassing Ginette Schapira’s, ’13, score of 222 set in 2011.

That wasn’t the first record that Jahn had achieved that week though.

Jahn carded the opening round with a score of 68, setting a program record for a single competitive round, besting Crystal Lee’s, ’14, score of 70, set in April 2011.

Jahn said she went into the tournament with no expectations of breaking any records. Her goal for the day was to stay focused on each shot and not get ahead of her game. To coach Mary Kate Lynch, Jahn’s best consists of playing with a high-level of competitiveness and strength on the course.

“Reagan (Jahn) is one of the most physically gifted golfers that I have ever coached,” Lynch said. “She’s been working really hard on the mental side of the game because she is so talented to get under par.”

Jahn said the team’s overall goal for the week was to try its best and figure out what it needed to work on moving forward. Since this was the team’s first time playing since October, Jahn said one of the challenges of the tournament was adjusting to playing outside for the first time. This made her accomplishment so much more impressive, Lynch said.

Lynch said while Jahn was focusing on her game, Lynch became aware of what was happening.

“I knew where the record was prior, and I knew that no one had ever gone that far under par,” Lynch said. “For her to do it in February when we hadn’t been on grass practicing, it was just absolutely incredible.”

Jahn’s fellow teammates were just as excited for her new records. Sophomore Angela Ding said she was in absolute shock when she heard what happened.

“I was just so happy for her,” she said. “I started tearing up a little bit.”

Her recent success is not her first accomplishment at Lehigh. Jahn already holds one of the lowest stroke averages in program history. Her performance last week lowered her average stroke from 74.78 to 74.33.

Ding attributes Jahn’s success to her being the hardest worker both on and off the course.

“She’s a great student, and when she plays, she’s always giving 110 percent,” she said.  “To see that all of her hard work is transferring over to competition just shows that this is her time to shine.”

Lynch said she is excited to see what Jahn accomplishes next.

“This has opened up the floodgates,” Lynch said. “She has a lot of low scores ahead of her.”