Lauren Lombardo is a rising senior from Annapolis, Maryland with a major in Architecture (B.S.). She is a member of the women’s golf team, and will be spending her summer as an intern at Leuterio Thomas, LLC, a woman owned architectural and engineering firm. Among her many titles, Lauren has just received a new one: Landmark Conference Player of the Year.
Ever since she was five years old, Lauren has been learning the ins and outs of the golf world, going to the course with her younger brother Luke, who would challenge her to a few games. It was in middle school where she started to compete, playing in tournaments all throughout secondary school. Lombardo was named to the “A” All-Conference Team and was champion two years in a row for the Interscholastic Athletic Association of Maryland, representing Archbishop Spalding High School.
Similar to golf, Lauren’s fascination with architecture also started when she was fairly young. “I always watched HGTV with my grandma, and I loved interior design… I always wanted to do residential design; I remember in middle school we would always make floor plans for Spanish class… and I always loved doing that.” She had the opportunity to take architecture classes in high school, where she learned different applications like Sketchup and tried her hand in watercoloring. This career choice was clear for her, and she wondered if doing golf would be possible with a major that has a reputation for being pretty demanding.
Originally, when considering colleges, she was drawn to schools down south. In typical sibling fashion, she didn’t want to follow her sister, Katie, who recently graduated from the Busch School of Business with the Class of 2024. “At first I was dead set on a big south school. I wanted to do architecture and move away from home… but my mom was all for Catholic University.” Lauren’s mother convinced her to give CUA a chance, and it was during one of the informational sessions offered when Lauren decided to add Catholic University to her list.
When COVID was declared a national emergency, Lauren was a junior in high school. Going into her senior year, she spent quarantine thinking more and more about what she wanted out of her university experience. She emailed the head coach of Catholic University’s men's and women’s golf team, Ed Dolan, and realized that the school checked all of her boxes.
Golf is one of the few sports where the team competes during more than one season, so during the fall and spring seasons, golf practices are in full swing. With fall season practices in the early evenings, Lauren would come into Crough early in the morning to get her work done. The spring is typically more challenging, especially when classes interfere with practice times. But Lauren still made it work, “It’s definitely possible, I would say; it’s not easy. You have to have the balance.”
Lauren went on to win the 2024 Landmark Conference Player of the Year title, as well as earning her third All-Landmark Conference First Team Selection, while also maintaining good grades. As she enters her senior year, she is the second person to ever earn low medalist honors at the championship event for Catholic University. She was offered a spot playing with Leuterio Thomas in an upcoming golf tournament, as well as an internship for the summer. “I got to play in a golf tournament with Leuterio Thomas about a year ago… I made good connections with them, and I reached back out and they immediately said they would love to have me… and they offered me a spot in another tournament… Golf opens up doors.”
This week, the women’s golf team is playing at the NCAA Division III Championships in Nicholasville, Kentucky, with Lauren as one of their starting five for the four day long tournament. Read more about the tournament: https://catholicathletics.com/news/2024/5/20/womens-golf-ncaa-championship-preview-cardinals-head-south-to-kentucky-in-great-form.aspx
