Huskers Sit in 10th at Spring Opener

Parrish, Fla. --The Nebraska women’s golf team opened the 2004 spring season with a solid first-round team score of 306, but slipped into a tie for 10th place with Iowa State at the end of two rounds at the Central District Invitational on Monday.

Senior captain Stephanie Schaefer (Columbus, Neb.), swung an even-par score of 72 in the first round to tie for third place. In the second round, Schaefer shot five-over-par to compile a two-round score of 149 and a tie for 11th place.

"Stephanie really had an excellent first round, and actually she could have gone lower because she didn’t putt exceptionally well."  Head Coach Robin Krapfl said. "She just hit the ball down right down the middle and then got on the green and put herself in position for some birdies that she couldn’t quite convert. But it was a great first round and definitely the highlight for us today."

Krapfl said the weather made scoring hard, especially during the second round when Nebraska produced a score of 316.

"The wind picked up and it got a little ugly out there for a while," Krapfl said. "We put ourselves in some situations that we have not been in since we haven’t competed since the fall. Our scores were high, but they could have been a lot worse. They were really hard-fought scores out there today."

Christine McArdle bounced back from a first-round disqualification to produce a score of 80 to help the Huskers end the day tied at 10th with a score of 622. McArdle’s group was disqualified in the first round after they teed off from the wrong tee box.

The Huskers are poised to make a move in the third round on Tuesday. Nebraska is just 12 strokes out of fifth place on the 6,099-yard, par 72 River Wilderness Golf Course.

"We’re still confident that we can make a push tomorrow," Krapfl said. "We’ve had some good practice rounds down here, and the course really suits our strengths, so I think if we can get it going tomorrow we can go low."

The final round of the Central District Invitational is scheduled for Tuesday with a shotgun start at 7 a.m. central time.

Nebraska Individuals (First-Second-Two Rounds)
T11. Stephanie Schaefer (72- 77-149)
T32. Merynn Ito (77-79-156)
T49. Stephanie Ruiz (75-86-161)
T54. Jackie Beste (82-80-162)
-- Christine McArdle (DQ-80- --)

Team Scores (First-Second-Two Rounds)
1. Louisiana State (295-298-593)
2. Michigan State (298-298-596)
3. Kansas State (304-295-599)
4. TCU (299-305-604)
5. Arkansas (307-303-610)
6. Texas Tech (306-307-613)
7. Northwestern (303-314-617)
8. Baylor (314-309-620)
9. Texas A&M (311-309-622)
T10. Iowa State (316-306-622)
T10. Nebraska (306-316-622)
12. Iowa (312-316-628)
13. Wisconsin (317-317-634)
14. Indiana (329-318-647)
15. Minnesota (323-330-653)