Reisinger is the “Total Package” for Women’s Golf

Fourth-year Cate Reisinger of the women’s golf team is someone head coach Brandy Johnston regards as a “high quality individual.” Since her debut on collegiate greens during the Ball State Classic Sept. 20, 2021, Reisinger has remained a steady presence for the team.

Reisinger’s introduction to the sport was through her father, who handed her a golf club at a young age. Along with her older brother EJ and younger sister Ava, she participated in a number of junior clinics within and near her hometown of Park Ridge, Ill.

While all three grew up at the range together, each began to deviate into other sports. Her siblings also pursued hockey, while she grew accustomed to the soccer pitch. 

While Reisinger’s soccer career was eventually cut short, she said there was a larger draw to it as a kid compared to golf.

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“[Golf is] very slow paced,” Reisinger said. “It’s not the most intriguing sport to a kid, but my top sport was soccer, which I played up through middle school until high school because I had a couple of injuries.”

When considering high school, Reisinger decided to follow in her brother’s footsteps and attend Saint Viator High School, a catholic college-preparatory institution located in the nearby suburb of Arlington Heights. 

She enjoyed a successful golf career there, earning individual medals in the East Suburban Catholic Conference in three separate years, along with all-state, all-sectional and all-region shouts. Her time as an upperclassmen saw her playing alongside her sister for only a year, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the time she was on Saint Viator’s squad, Reisinger said she was fully committed to golf as a collegiate opportunity. In addition to performing highly in tournaments, Reisinger was building up a “golf resume” and networking with coaches.

While high school players are allowed to send out their resumes to schools, it serves as a one way line as coaches are unable to respond until September in an athlete’s third-year of high school, according to Reisinger.

Reisinger’s first contact with Loyola was initiated by then-head coach Carly Werwie-Swartz, who Reisinger described as the largest influence in her eventual commitment to Loyola. Initially, though, Reisinger maintained a mindset searching for out-of-state opportunities.

“I really didn’t want to stay in Illinois because I’ve grown up in Park Ridge,” Reisinger said. “I could get on Devon right now and drive straight west for 30 minutes and I’m home. One road. The campus is on the same road as my home.”

The two kept in contact, with Werwie-Swartz offering constant advice during the recruiting process, even if it wasn’t to Loyola’s benefit. Eventually, the combination of Werwie-Swartz’s personality and recognition of the improving program won over Reisinger — who decided the ride wouldn’t be so bad after all — and joined the program along with two other first-years.

Werwie-Swartz eventually left the program to pursue opportunities in her hometown of Kenosha, WI, allowing Johnston to step into the role in August 2022.

When the coaching change was implemented — at the start of Resiginger’s second-year — she was sidelined due to an injury she’d picked up at the end of the previous season. She had reservations about possibly redshirting, but after a dominant spring season showing — finishing as the team’s second highest scorer — she decided to move along the set path, according to Johnston.

Now in her final season, Reisinger, along with fellow fourth-year Jolie Brochu, is helping a young squad navigate a newly established Atlantic 10 golf conference, the third conference transfer she’s witnessed at Loyola — the previous two being the Missouri Valley and Metro Atlantic Athletic conferences.

In what she describes a “family,” the program’s eight athletes are put in contact with each other well before the start of the season, helping members of the team adjust to new surroundings and faces. Because of the small group, Reisinger said it’s “practically impossible not to be close.”

Johnston indicated the insight Reisinger brought to the team as an older player.

“Having fourth-years step up and provide good leadership is really important,” Johnston said. 

“That’s not just in how we treat each other. But it’s also important to show the standards that we want to live by within our program, centered around hard work, making sure that we’re doing the little things and really showing up to compete every single time that we play.”

So far in the season, Reisinger has recorded a top-10 finish — the third of her career — along with her first under-par round and lowest 54-hole finish in her career, all of which came from the Redbird Invitational in Bloomington, Ill. 

To close out her final year at Loyola, she said she’s aiming to nab a few more top-10 finishes, along with a possible run at the A10 conference championships in mid-April.

In addition to her athletic career, Reisinger has been pursuing a degree in marketing from the Quinlan School of Business, which she said she hopes to utilize in a way that allows her to remain somewhat connected to golf.

Johnston said by the time Reisinger’s eligibility is up, she’ll be completely prepared for life after college golf.

“When I look at Cate, I just see someone who’s loaded with tremendous potential, tremendous potential in life, tremendous potential in golf,” Johnston said. “She really is the total package and has all the characteristics that you need to have to truly excel both in life and on the golf course.”