Huskers Close Regular Season in Arizona

The Nebraska women’s golf team will wrap up regular-season action this weekend at the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz.

The University of Colorado plays host to the 17-team event at the Mountain View Golf Course with 36 holes on Saturday, March 24, and the final 18 holes on Sunday, March 25. Competition on both days begins at 10 a.m. central time. No live scoring is available for the tournament.

Following the conclusion of regular-season action in Arizona, which features eight Big 12 teams, the Huskers will have three weeks to prepare for the Big 12 Championships in Waco, Texas, April 16-18.

Nebraska will be looking to make a strong push at the Mountain View Collegiate and April’s Big 12 Championships to earn a qualifying spot at NCAA Regionals in May.

The Huskers are coming off a ninth-place showing at the 15-team Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invitational in Austin, Texas, over the weekend. Junior Elli Brown led the Huskers by finishing in a tie for 16th individually at 231. It was Brown’s seventh top-20 finish of the season.

Fellow junior Allison Stewart added a 235 to finish in a tie for 26th, while true freshmen JC Stevenson and Kate White tied for 31st at 237.

Mountain View Collegiate
Host: Colorado
Location: Tucson, Ariz.
Course: Mountain View Golf Course
Par 72 - Yardage 6,178
36 Holes Saturday, 18 Holes Sunday

Nebraska Lineup
1. Elli Brown
2. Kate White
3. Allison Stewart
4. JC Stevenson
5. Chrissie McArdle
IND-Charlotte Wendner

Tournament Field
Arizona, Baylor, College of Charleston, Colorado, Denver, Indiana, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, Northern Arizona, Northwestern, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Wisconsin

Brown Making Bid for All-America Honors
Nebraska junior Elli Brown is making a strong case to be considered among the top players in the nation in 2006-07. The Meridian, Idaho, native has finished in the top 10 individually in six of Nebraska’s nine tournaments and earned the conference’s first Big 12 Golfer-of-the-Month award for September.

Brown finished in a tie for seventh at the 17-team Derby Invitational hosted by Auburn, Oct. 28-29. Brown’s two-round total of 149 included rounds of 77 and 72, just four strokes back of tournament champion Marisa Milligan from Auburn.

Brown’s finish at the Derby came against a 17-team field that included 15 teams that qualified for the 2006 NCAA Championships.

Brown finished in the top five individually in each of NU’s first four tournaments to open 2006, including a career-best tie for second and a career-low 216 at the Bronco Invitational, Oct. 9-10. She added a fourth-place finish to lead the Huskers to their fourth consecutive Chip-N Club title Sept. 18-19. She added a tie for fifth at the Wildcat Fall Invitational in Lexington, Ky., Sept. 30-Oct. 1, in a 15-team tournament field that included seven squads that earned 2006 NCAA Regional berths. Brown also tied for eighth at the 16-team Red Rocks Invitational March 3-4 in Sedona, Ariz.

Brown opened the season by finishing fifth at the Badger Invitational in Verona, Wis. Overall, Brown leads Nebraska with a 76.35 stroke average on the year.

With six top-10 finishes in 2006-07, Brown owns 10 career top-10 finishes at Nebraska and 17 career top-25 showings. She finished 26th at last year’s Big 12 Championships and 79th at the 2006 NCAA Championships.

Last season, Brown’s 76.85 average ranked 19th in the Big 12 Conference, right behind returning teammate Chrissie McArdle.

Brown played in all 40 rounds and posted six top-20 finishes. She played three rounds below par. She shot 71 on four occasions as a sophomore, one stroke shy of her career-best 70 at the Betsy Rawls Invitational in 2005.

White Earns Mid-Season Freshman All-America Honors
Nebraska’s Kate White earned one of six spots on Golf World’s mid-season Freshman All-America team announced in November.

The freshman from Waukegan, Ill., has finished among the top 35 individuals in each of Nebraska’s nine tournaments, including a tournament title at the Bronco Invitational and a seventh-place showing at the Chip-N Club Invitational.

White’s 76.85 stroke average ranks second on the team, and she was the Big 12 Golfer of the Month for October.

Huskers Produce Strong Results in the Classroom
All 10 members of the 2006-07 Nebraska women’s golf team and one former Husker were among the 270 Nebraska student-athletes across all sports to earn spots on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll for their outstanding academic performance during the 2006 fall semester.

Collectively, the Huskers produced an outstanding fall team GPA of 3.67.

Freshman Rachel Hanigan posted a perfect 4.0 GPA in her first semester at Nebraska to lead the strong contingent of Husker golfers on the honor roll.

Senior Andrea Carlson (Dunagan) from Grand Island, Neb., claimed her seventh spot on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, while junior Allison Stewart from Vermillion, S.D., contributed her sixth appearance. Senior Chrissie McArdle from Eden Prairie, Minn., pitched in the fifth honor roll selection of her career, as did sophomore Megan Place from Omaha. Junior Elli Brown from Meridian, Idaho, added her third selection.

All five of Nebraska’s true freshmen, including Hanigan from Dunlap, Iowa, got their careers off to a good start in the classroom. Freshmen JC Stevenson (Grand Island), Sydney Sturdevant (Sioux Falls, S.D.), Charlotte Wendner (Bjarred, Sweden) and Kate White (Waukegan, Ill.) all claimed Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll spots in their first semesters in Lincoln.

In addition to the 10 current members of the team, former Husker Jackie Beste claimed one final appearance on the honor roll after graduating from the University of Nebraska in December. Beste was a four-time NGCA Scholastic All-American and a three-time academic All-Big 12 honoree during her career at Nebraska.

The Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll honors student-athletes who acheived a 3.0 or higher grade-point average during the 2006 fall semester. Thirty-three Nebraska athletes earned a perfect 4.0 GPA.

White, Brown Lead Huskers to School-Record Effort in Idaho
Kate White tied the school record with an opening-round 67 on her way to her first individual title, and Idaho native Elli Brown added a career-best tournament score to tie for second at the Bronco Invitational in Boise, Oct. 9-10.

White, a true freshman from Waukegan, Ill., finished the 54-hole tournament with a career-low 213, three strokes ahead of Brown’s career-best 216.

True freshman JC Stevenson added a career-best 227 to finish in 13th, one stroke ahead of teammates Chrissie McArdle and Andrea Carlson (Dunagan), who tied for 14th at 228. The consistently low scores from top to bottom in NU’s lineup allowed the Huskers to eclipse the school record for lowest three-round score. Nebraska’s 884 team total shaved one stroke off the previous mark and it was 45 strokes better than NU’s previous season-low round.

Senior McArdle Proven Performer in Husker Lineup
Chrissie McArdle emerged as a consistent threat through the 2005-06 campaign, producing the second-best stroke average on the team at 76.80 over 40 rounds, including 31 rounds at or below 78. Her stroke average ranked 18th in the Big 12 Conference a year ago.

The Eden Prairie, Minn., native finished in the top 20 in seven tournaments last season, including two top-five finishes. She was also in the starting lineup for all 40 of Nebraska’s rounds.

After a rough start at the Badger Invitational this fall when she tied for 27th with a 239, McArdle bounced back with the top finish of her collegiate career with her second-place showing at the Chip-N Club Invitational Sept. 18-19. McArdle’s 229 (77-75-77) matched Missouri State’s Sally Hinton at the end of regulation, before Hinton prevailed on the second playoff hole.

Although McArdle just missed her first career individual title, she did lead the Huskers to their fourth straight Chip-N Club title.

McArdle shot a career-low round of 70 at the Mountain View Collegiate, helping the Huskers break the 54-hole record with a career-low 215. She surpassed her previous career-best round of 71 shot three times last season, including the second round of the Mountain View Collegiate.

McArdle broke her previous career-low tournament score of 221, which she fired at both the 2003 adidas Fall Classic and the 2004 Edwin Watts/Palmetto.

In addition, McArdle concluded the 2005-06 season with a tie for 33rd (237) at the Big 12 Championships and helped the Huskers earn eighth place at the NCAA Central Regional, placing in a tie for 35th with 231. At the NCAA Championships, McArdle scored a 311 and placed in a tie for 88th.

True Freshmen Making Immediate Contributions
True freshmen Kate White and JC Stevenson are off to strong starts in their Nebraska careers.

White, a native of Waukegan, Ill., has finished in the top 35 in each of her first nine career tournaments, including her first career title at the Bronco Invitational. Her win in Boise, Idaho, included a school-record-tying 67 in the opening round. She added an impressive seventh-place showing at the Chip-N Club Invitational Sept. 18-19. Seventeen of White’s 26 rounds have been 78 or below, including eight of her last 10.

Stevenson, a Grand Island, Neb., native, overcame the rainy, cold and windy conditions at the University Ridge Golf Course in Wisconsin for an even-par 72 on the final day of the tournament to close in a tie for 12th place. She added a 13th-place finish and a career-low 227 at the Bronco Invitational. She also tied for 27th at the Chip-N Club Invitational that included a final-round 75. Stevenson added a second-round 75 to finish in a tie for 31st at the Betsy Rawls Longhorn Invite.

Huskers Pursue Second Straight NCAA Championships Bid
After producing one of the best seasons in school history in 2005-06, Nebraska will try to rewrite history again in 2006-07 by becoming the first Husker women’s golf team to make back-to-back trips to the 24-team NCAA Championships.

The Huskers, who finished 20th at the 2006 NCAA Championships, made just the third trip to nationals in school history. NU ended the year with the second-best NCAA finish in the record book, trailing only their 19th-place showing in 2000.

Nebraska capped its NCAA Championship performance by firing its finest NCAA Championship-round ever with an 11-over-par 299. NU’s record-setting round, which surpassed its previous top round at the NCAA Championships by three strokes, gave the Huskers another NCAA Championship school mark of 1,221 for the 72-hole tournament.

The previous school record for the top 18-hole effort in the NCAA Championships came with a 302 in the third round of the 2000 NCAA Championships at the Crosswater Golf Club in Sunriver, Ore. The Huskers also sliced 18 strokes off their previous tournament record score, which also came in the 2000 NCAA Championships with a 1,239.

In addition to the record-breaking team scores at the NCAA Championships, the Huskers received one of the top individual efforts in school history at nationals.

All-Big 12 senior Stephanie Ruiz closed her career with a three-over-par 75 on the final day to finish at 301, matching Elizabeth Bahensky’s 301 at the 2000 NCAA Championships for the best individual tournament score in school history. Ruiz’s 13-over-par 301 (72-76-78-75) put her in a tie for 38th place.

Nebraska started its run to the NCAA Championships with a fourth-place finish at the Big 12 Championships at the Country Club of Lincoln. The Huskers’ strong Big 12 performance helped them earn a spot as the No. 15 seed at the NCAA Central Regional. The Huskers qualified for nationals with an eighth-place showing at the Traditions Club in Bryan, Texas.

Overall, the Huskers closed the season with the best stroke average in school history at 304.88 over 40 rounds, the most rounds ever played by a Nebraska team. The Huskers also claimed two team titles, while also earning nine top-five finishes and 11 top-10 showing in the 13 events.