And Lubahn isn’t shy when it comes to talking to his guys about what he wants the Spartans to accomplish in the future.

“They’re certainly aware of it,” Lubahn said. “They just know that’s the expectation as we’re rebuilding and continuing to get back to the top of the league. It’s something we talk about quite regularly, as far as things that it takes to become a champion.”

Since he helped coach the program to a championship in 2008, the Spartans haven’t finished better than seventh. Although he said Illinois, Indiana and Iowa are the favorites, Lubahn said the conference race is open this season.

The men’s team will send freshman McCormick Clouser, juniors Dan and Dave Ellis and Matthew Moseley and senior Chris Mory to represent MSU in French Lick — the same five golfers who finished eighth last weekend at the Boilermaker Invitational in West Lafayette, Ind.

Mory, the lone senior making the trip for the men’s team, has played in two Big Ten Championships before this year. He said the key when trying to stay comfortable in such a tournament is to not change too much on the fly.

“It’s about sticking to a game plan and having a process — you go back to do things the same week in and week out,” he said.

The women’s championship also will be in French Lick, but only is a 54-hole tournament.
This year, the Spartan women will be led by junior Caroline Powers, who came in with a fourth place finish at last season’s tournament. She’ll be joined by sophomores Liz Nagel, Allyssa Ferrell and Christine Meier and freshman Jenny Sritragul, who, along with Nagel, will be making her first appearance at the Big Ten Championship.

As her and her team prepared to leave Wednesday, Slobodnik-Stoll said she’s excited about having so much experience from last season and making a return trip to the championships.
Along with MSU being a favorite to win the team championship, Powers is expected to be near the front of the pack individually.

“For me, I just got to make sure that I try to hit the fairway, try to hit the green, try to make a putt and not worry about anything more than what I’m doing right at that moment,” Powers said.
Much like Lubahn on the men’s side, Slobodnik-Stoll said her main priority will be to remind her golfers to not look ahead and stay true to the plan.

“My job this weekend is helping them to understand that, regardless of what we want and how badly we want to take that trophy home on Sunday night and design new rings, we have to take one shot at a time,” she said. “My job is going to be to keep them focused on the hole that they’re on, the shot that they’re on and that’s it.”