Last time the University of Hawaii’s women’s golf team teed it up, it came up a shot short of the Western Athletic Conference championship.

The Rainbow Wahine have had five months to ponder that shot as they prepare to open their 2010-11 season tomorrow at the Branch Law Firm Dick McGuire Invitational. The 17-team tournament is at the University of New Mexico Championship Course in Albuquerque, where UH coach Lori Castillo won the 1980 AIAW championship with her Tulsa team.

Other squads competing this weekend include 16th-ranked Denver, 20th-ranked UNM, 24th-ranked Ohio State and 26th-ranked Texas Christian. Castillo "wants" to finish top 10, but would "be happy" in the top five.

Last season, Hawaii’s best finish going into the last month was seventh. It came at a 10-team tournament in Oregon to start the season. The Wahine had just one more top-10 finish until hosting the Dr. Donnis Thompson Invitational in March. They were sixth out of 17 teams at Kaneohe Klipper.

A month later, they tried to chase down San Jose State at the WAC championship. Hawaii shot a season-low 919 over three rounds and cut its deficit to one on a difficult final day played in a four-club wind. It was the best finish in Wahine history, beating a pair of thirds in 2007 and ’08.

UH’s Ka’ili Britos took second individually with a 73 in the howling final-day wind and was named WAC freshman of the year. She was also selected to the 2009-10 Division I National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team. Britos, born in Switzerland and fluent in French, is the daughter of former professional racquetball player Peter Britos.

"In the fall, we had reassessed the things Ka’ili needed to work on," Castillo recalled. "She spent the spring doing that, and it came together at the end. A lot of it was working with her mental game and being comfortable with college golf."

The WAC championship made all the Wahine comfortable with college golf, and confident, according to Castillo.

In her first season as coach, two years ago, she had just seven players. This year’s roster has 10, or twice as many as teams can take on the road. Practices are more competitive than some tournaments used to be. Even conversation might be more competitive, with two valedictorians on the team (Maryssa Shigesato, a Mililani graduate who is injured, and Maui High alum Liana Otake).

"We’ve got depth now," Castillo said. "Our fill-out score (the best four scores of five players count) might be lower than it ever has been."

Joining Britos this week are sophomore Brigitte Baker, from Florida, and senior Brittany Bomar, from Alaska. Freshmen Charlee Kapiioho, an ‘Iolani graduate, and Madeleine Ystrom, from Haninge, Sweden, complete the travel squad. The freshmen are the longest hitters on the team, by a bunch.

Kapiioho, born and raised here, attended Advanced Technologies Academy in Las Vegas as a junior and finished sixth in Nevada’s state tournament. She was 10th in the Hawaii High School state championship last spring. Ystrom is 19 and has been playing on Swedish junior tours for years.

"These players listen, they are kind, they get along, they take leadership well," Castillo said. "These are players I can mold."