TOWSON, Md. – It was supposed to be three holes. No strings attached.
 
"My first golf experience did not go so well in the beginning," Towson University sophomore Julia Calomiris recalled. "I was playing junior golf at a congressional country club and I was in the three-hole division, which means we only played three holes because we were so young.
 
"Once my mom dropped me off at the tee and left, I started balling my eyes out. She then had to come back to prevent me from crying and said that after those three holes if I didn't like golf I never had to play again."
 
Calomiris is no longer crying and she hasn't stopped playing.
 
"After those three holes were done, no one could get me off the course because I loved it so much," Calomiris said. "I got involved with golf when I was 5 years old. My parents and sister all played at some point in their life. My sister is four years older than me so whatever she did I wanted to do better and beat her in."
 
Now Calomiris' family are the ones shedding tears of joy. They would definitely be proud of her performance during this past week's Towson Invitational. The affable mass communications major from Washington, D.C. treated fans to a front-row seat of excellence with a fantastic effort to help the Tigers overcome an eight-stroke deficit to win the Towson Invitational.
 
Calomiris finished second overall after carding a personal best round of one-under 71 and a two-round score of 146 (+2), the second lowest in program history. In addition, she helped Towson shoot a final round 292, the second lowest round in program history.
 
Helped by several strong efforts from her teammates, Towson finished with a two-round score of 597, which was also the second lowest 36-hole effort in program history.
 
"I couldn't believe it," Calomiris said of her individual performance. "I have been working so hard and to finally have my first round under par in competition was shocking. I'm happy to see all the hard work and sacrifices I've made finally pay off. As a team, we are most proud of how much we have moved up in our national rankings in just one season. We have our amazing coach to thank for that. We are so excited to see what more we can do."
 
Towson closes its fall campaign by competing at the University of Delaware Invitational at the windy and beautiful Rehoboth Beach Country Club, a par 72, 6,126-yard course. First and second round action is on Saturday, October 19 and the tournament concludes on Sunday, October 20. In addition to Calomiris, playing for the Tigers this weekend will be Jordan Cornelius, Sarah Perine, Jayla Kang and Erica Han.
 
In addition to Towson, the teams competing include Albany, Dartmouth, Delaware, Delaware State, Harvard, Navy, Oklahoma City University, Rutgers and Seton Hall. Action starts at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday.
 
This course has special memories for Calomiris, who shot a 73 last year, which was her best round as a freshman. She shined at the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) championships last year by helping the Tigers finish fourth overall where she was tied for 15th overall. She had the only eagle at the CAA championships.
 
The seeds of Calomiris' success can be traced to her commitment and dedication to improving her game. While she did go to Ocean City with her grandmother and cousins for a long weekend, she mostly spent lots of time on the golf course. The work has yielded huge rewards for Calomiris, who has finished among the top 20 individuals in three of Towson's four tournaments this fall.
 
"This summer I worked with my swing coach to get everything ready for the seasons to come," Calomiris said. "What motivates me is my desire to do my best for my teammates, my coach and myself. The best part of being a member of the Towson women's golf team is how close everyone is and how well we work together. I have truly made friends for life."
 
If everything goes according to plan those same friends will eventually see Calomiris on television. Her career aspiration is to be involved in broadcasting. That's the future.
 
"My cousin is a national broadcaster and hearing her talk about her job was something I could really see myself doing since I love to talk to people," Calomiris said. 
 
The present involves improving with every tournament she competes in, playing consistently and savoring every step of her journey with her teammates.

Tigers in the Community
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area.
- For the 7th consecutive year, the department exceeded 10,000 hours of community service to the Greater Baltimore region, finishing with 11,162 hours of community service in the 2018-19 academic season.
- Towson ranked #1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition.
- Towson had a 97% participation rate, attended 118 community service opportunities and volunteered with 19 organizations.
- Towson won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.