Huskers Smash School Record at Mountain View

Tucson, Ariz. - The Nebraska women's golf team smashed the 36-hole school record by 10 strokes to storm to the lead with a four-under-par 72 after two rounds at the 17-team Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz., on Saturday.

The Huskers will carry a 10 shot lead into Sunday's final round after firing a school-record four-under-par 572 on the opening day of the two-day event. Northwestern (582) leads a pack of four teams within 13 shots of Nebraska's lead, including Baylor (583), Indiana (584) and IowaState (585).

Nebraska’s second-round 285 matched the best 18-hole team score in school history, which came at the Chip-N Club Invitational on Sept. 14, 1998. That same day, the Huskers (Amanda Sutcliffe, Sarah Sasse, Elizabeth Bahensky, Gretchen Doerr and Catha Fogelberg) posted the then-best two-round total in history with a 582 that included an opening-round 297 on the Huskers’ home course.

In a tournament field that includes nine Big 12 Conference squads, true freshman Kate White enters Sunday's final round on the par-72, 6,126-yard layout of the Mountain View Golf Course in the hunt for her third career top-10 individual finish. The Waukegan, Ill., native sparked Nebraska's surge to the front of the pack in the opening-round with a three-under-par 69 to tie for the tournament lead after the first 18 holes.

White's effort helped the Huskers finish with a one-under-par 287 in the opening round, five strokes lower than their previous low round of the season at the Bronco Invitational.

White added a one-over-par 73 in the second round to enter Sunday's final 18 holes in seventh place with a two-under-par 142. However, the Huskers played so well from top to bottom in their lineup in the second round, that White's 73 was not good enough to count in NU's all-time best three-under-par 285 team score.

Four Huskers enter Sunday's final round in the top 10 among the 90 individuals in the tournament.

"What a nice comeback for our team," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "We knew coming into the tournament that we needed some good scores to put ourselves in position to win this tournament and hopefully improve our chances of qualifying for NCAA Regionals in a few weeks. I think our players were more determined and aggressive than they have been and it showed. To put up the kind of scores we did today with the kind of pressure that was on us shows a lot about our team's character."

Junior Elli Brown (Meridian, Idaho) fired rounds of 72 and 71 to finish the day with a one-under-par 143 to sit in a tie for eighth place. True freshman JC Stevenson from Grand Island, Neb., added a pair of even-par rounds of 72 to match her career-best score in both rounds and enter the final round at 144 in a tie for 10th with teammate Chrissie McArdle. The senior from Eden Prairie, Minn., tied her career-best round with a two-under-par 70 in the second round after producing her second-best round of the season with an opening-round 74.

Junior Allison Stewart also tied her season best with an even-par 72 in the second round, after managing a 79 in the opening round. Stewart enters the final round in a tie for 56th at 151. Stewart is joined in 56th place by true freshman Charlotte Wendner, who also fired the two best rounds of her career with an opening-round 76 and a second-round 75, while playing as an unattached individual.

"We finally made some putts today," Krapfl said. "We had some pretty good scoring conditions with some wet playing conditions that helped the greens hold, and we made some long putts. I thought we took a really positive approach to today's rounds and we played the shots that presented themselves to us. We have one more round, so hopefully we can keep it going tomorrow and finish strong to put ourselves in position to compete for the tournament title."

The 54-hole Mountain ViewCollege concludes with Sunday's final round beginning at 10 a.m. central time.

Mountain View Collegiate
Results Through Two Rounds
Mountain View Golf Course (Tucson, Ariz.)
Par 72, 6,126 Yards

Team Standings
1. Nebraska - 287-285-572 (School record 36-hole score)
2. Northwestern - 294-288-582
3. Baylor - 292-291-583
4. Indiana - 297-287-584
5. IowaState - 291-294-585

Nebraska Individuals
7. Kate White - 69-73-142
T8. Elli Brown - 72-71-143
T10. JC Stevenson - 72-72-144
T10. Chrissie McArdle - 74-70-144
T56. Allison Stewart - 79-72-151

Unattached Individual
T56. Charlotte Wendner - 76-75-151