Huskers Hunt for Big 12 Title in Texas

The Nebraska women’s golf team opens postseason tournament play by traveling to Waco, Texas for the Big 12 Conference Championships, April 16-18.

The 54 holes of tournament play begin with 18 holes on Monday, April 16 and continue with a second round on Tuesday, April 17. The Big 12 champions will be crowned following the final round on Wednesday, April 18.

The Huskers and the rest of the Big 12 teams will be challenged by the 6,142-yard, par-72 layout of the Ridgewood Country Club in Waco. The Huskers will be paired with Colorado and Missouri on the opening day of the tournament and are scheduled to tee off at 9:50 a.m.

Nebraska golfers have had plenty of time to work on their games during a nearly four-week competitive layoff since winning the Mountain View Collegiate. The Huskers put together the best team performance in school history in Tucson, Ariz., shattering the school and tournament records with a three-round score of 866, that included a school-record-tying round of 285.

Last season, the Huskers finished in a tie for fourth with a three-round team total of 927 at the Big 12 Championships. NU served as the 2006 host of the event at the Country Club of Lincoln. Texas A&M is the defending Big 12 champion after firing an 899 last season, while the Aggies’ Ashley Knoll will try to defend her Big 12 individual crown this season as well.

Big 12 Championships
Host: Baylor
Location: Waco, Texas
Course: Ridgewood Country Club
Par 72 - Yardage 6,142
18 Holes Each Day

Nebraska Lineup
1. Elli Brown
2. Kate White|
3. Chrissie McArdle
4. JC Stevenson
5. Allison Stewart

Big 12 Tournament Field
Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Texas A&M, Texas Tech

Live Scoring: GolfStat.com

Huskers Shatter Records in Tournament Win at Mountain View
Nebraska smashed a school tournament record by finishing with a two-over-par 866, including a final round 294 to win the 17-team Mountain View Collegiate on March 25.

The Huskers’ three-round team score demolished the previous school-record low tournament total of 884, set earlier this season at the Bronco Invitational in Idaho on Oct. 9-10, 2006. NU’s total also established a Mountain View Collegiate record, previously set with an 870 by Northwestern in 2005. Nebraska’s win marked the Huskers’ third team tournament crown of the year, joining wins at the Bronco Invitational and the Chip-N Club Invitational during the fall.

Nebraska’s victory on the par-72, 6,126-yard layout of the Mountain View Golf Course came by four strokes over Northwestern (870). Indiana finished seven strokes back of the Huskers at 873, led by individual champion Elaine Harris who finished with a seven-under-par 209.

Elli Brown led the Huskers with her seventh top-10 individual finish of the season. The junior from Meridian, Idaho, closed the tournament with a two-under-par 70 for her best round of the 54-hole event. Brown’s three-under-par total of 213 smashed her previous career-best tournament score of 216 set at this season’s Bronco Invitational.

Brown, who birdied three of her final four holes on Sunday, was a major key to Nebraska’s total team effort.

True freshman Kate White added her third top-10 finish of the season by adding a three-over-par 75 on Sunday to finish four strokes behind Brown in a tie for 10th at 217. Senior Chrissie McArdle matched White with a 75 on Sunday to post her third top-20 finish with a three-round total of 219 to finish in a tie for 19th.

Although Allison Stewart finished as the lowest NU individual in the tournament lineup, the junior secured the team title for the Huskers with her two-over-par 74 in the final round. Stewart finished in a tie for 53rd at 225. She opened Saturday with a 79, before bouncing back with a second-round 72. Stewart’s 225 also matched her career-low tournament total set at last season’s Mountain View Collegiate.

Stewart’s strong final round allowed Nebraska to drop true freshman JC Stevenson’s 78 and secure the four-stroke team win. Stevenson, a native of Grand Island, Neb., finished the tournament in a tie for 32nd for the sixth top-35 finish of her rookie campaign. Stevenson’s three-round total of 222, which included a pair of even-par rounds of 72 on Saturday, eclipsed her previous tournament best of 227 at the Bronco Invitational.

True freshman Charlotte Wendner also obliterated her previous career-best tournament total by 11 strokes by finishing in a tie for 72nd with a 231 while playing as an individual outside of NU’s lineup.

Brown Makes Strong Case 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 seven of Nebraska’s 10 tournaments and earned the conference’s first Big 12 Golfer-of-the-Month award for September.

Brown is coming off the best three-round total of her career with a three-under-par 213 (72-71-70) in a sixth-place finish at the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz., March 24-25. Brown helped the Huskers to their third team tournament title of the season while lowering her team-low stroke average to 75.79 to rank among the top 10 players in the Big 12.

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 2006-07, including a career-best tie for second and a then-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 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.

With seven top-10 finishes in 2006-07, Brown owns 11 career top-10 finishes at Nebraska and 18 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.

Huskers Lead Academic All-Big 12 Squads
A league-leading five Nebraska golfers claimed spots on the academic All-Big 12 teams announced by the conference office in Irving, Texas, on April 10.

Four Huskers, including seniors Andrea Carlson and Chrissie McArdle, junior Allison Stewart and sophomore Megan Place, earned first-team academic All-Big 12 honors, while junior Elli Brown added a second-team award.

McArdle, Nebraska’s most experienced golfer, captured first-team academic All-Big 12 honors for the second straight season as a finance major. She is also a five-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll.

Stewart, a business administration major, also claimed her second first-team academic All-Big 12 award, joining the honor she earned as a redshirt freshman in 2005. Stewart is also a six-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

Carlson, a seven-time Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll selection, claimed her first academic All-Big 12 award. Place is also a first-time academic all-conference pick after earning five spots on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll.

Brown added the second academic All-Big 12 award of her career, after earning first-team accolades as a sophomore in 2006.

Nominated by each institution’s director of student-athlete support services and the media relations offices, the academic all-league women’s golf teams included 34 first-team selections and six second-team honorees in 2007. First-team members must maintain a 3.20 or better GPA, and the second-team selections must carry a 3.00 to 3.19 GPA.

To qualify, student-athletes must maintain a 3.00 GPA or higher either cumulative or the two previous semesters and must have participated in 60 percent of her team’s scheduled events. Freshmen and transfers are not eligible in the their first year of academic residency. Senior student-athletes who have participated for a minimum of two years and meet all the criteria except percent of participation are also eligible.

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) claimed her seventh spot on the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll, while junior Allison Stewart contributed her sixth appearance. Senior Chrissie McArdle pitched in the fifth honor roll selection of her career, as did sophomore Megan Place. Junior Elli Brown 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, Sydney Sturdevant, Charlotte Wendner and Kate White 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 Then-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 10 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. Twenty of White’s 29 rounds have been 78 or below, including 11 of her last 14. In fact, over the last nine rounds White leads NU with a 74.77 stroke average. She is coming off a 217 (69-73-75) to finish in a tie for 10th at the Mountain View Collegiate in Tucson, Ariz., March 24-25.

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 with a 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.

She closed the regular season with a tie for 32nd on the strength of a career-best 222 (72-72-78) at the Mountain View Collegiate, March 24-25.

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.