COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. - Luke Ehmke got a relatively late start on golf.

The Saint John's University student, now a sophomore, didn't pick up a club until he was in eighth grade.

"No one in my family plays," the East Ridge High School graduate said. "I was actually a baseball player growing up. But my cousin (Matthew Schwieger) took me to Hidden Greens in Hastings to play and I loved it right away. I got a youth pass and played that whole summer. I didn't plan on trying to play on the high school team as a freshman, but when sign-up came around in February, I thought I'd give it a shot. I ended up playing on JV that season, then I was on varsity my sophomore through senior year.

"I just got more and more into it."

So much so that Ehmke began to seriously consider the possibility of playing at the collegiate level, an ambition that became a reality after he spoke with the coaching staff at SJU.

"I actually reached out to them," Ehmke said. "My sister (Ava) goes to Saint Ben's, and one of my former East Ridge teammates, Gus Briguet, played here for four years before graduating last season. I really loved the campus, and whenever I came up to visit, it felt like home. So I was glad the whole golf thing could work out too. That was kind of a nice bonus."

Ehmke played mostly on the Johnnies' B team last season but picked up valuable experience. That's where he started again this fall but quickly earned a spot in SJU's top five. He's shown improvement over his team's past few tournaments. 

But he had his breakthrough performance this past weekend, finishing fourth overall with a two-under-par, three-round score of 215 at the Twin Cities Classic, played at Elk River Country Club, Le Sueur Country Club and Minnesota Valley Country Club.

That was the second-best SJU finish, behind only junior Gavin Grahek, who finished second with a score of 213. Ehmke's play was a big part of why the Johnnies tied Bethel for the team title with a score of 870.

"I felt like I was hitting the ball pretty well all weekend," Ehmke said. "I really like all three courses we played on and that helped. When you know where you're going, and you're playing well, it's a good combination."

Casey Vangsness '14, the former SJU All-American who took over as the program's head coach this past offseason, came away impressed.

"Ability-wise, he's a good ball striker," Vangsness said. "And I think he's maybe more mature than he was a year ago. We've had really good conversations about staying patient and not getting down on himself.  He's a pretty smart player and likes to do his own thing. I trust his judgement, so the biggest thing I've tried to do is not get in his way. I'm there for counsel if he needs it, and I'll offer pointers. But he's figuring out a lot all on his own."

Ehmke said his biggest area of improvement from his freshman season has come in the cerebral aspect of the game.

"I'm a lot stronger mentally now than I have been in the past," he said. "That's made it easier to turn things around if they aren't going well. I've realized you start to spiral when you get down on yourself and I'm doing a better job of shaking stuff off. There've been a few rounds this season where I've started slow - bogey, bogey, bogey. But I've figured out how to bounce back from that."

Ehmke, a member of SJU's Student-Athlete Advisory Committee (SAAC), is majoring in global business leadership, though he said he's still unsure what his future career path will be. 

His father Kyle works in sales, while his mother Kristin is a nurse.

"I don't know what I want to do yet, which is why I picked global business," he said. "It's a pretty broad major and I can weigh a lot of different options. I might want to get into sales, but right now, I'm still exploring."

He has plenty of time to figure that out. For now, though, his focus is on this weekend's MIAC Championships, scheduled for Saturday (Oct. 10) through Monday (Oct. 12) at Edinburgh USA in Brooklyn Park. 

The Johnnies finished an uncharacteristically low sixth at last season's conference meet. But they are expected to contend with defending champion Bethel, Gustavus Adolphus and others this time around. The winner this weekend earns the MIAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III national meet, scheduled for May 18–21 at the Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va.

"We feel like we can win," Ehmke said. "We built up a lot of momentum last weekend and we can keep building on that. We know the course. We know we can hang with all these teams. 

"We're just excited to get out there and compete."