Huskers Head to Kansas in Search of Second Title

Fresh off a season-opening team title at the Chip-N Club Invitational on Tuesday, the Nebraska women’s golf team heads to Lawrence, Kan., to compete in the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational, Monday, Sept. 22 and Tuesday, Sept. 23.

The Huskers will send two full teams to the Kansas, marking the second straight event that Nebraska has fielded two full teams at the same tournament. Nebraska’s "A" team won the Chip-N Club title with an impressive three-round total of 884. Sophomore Mary Kate Bird took second individually with a career-best one-under-par 215.

JC Stevenson and Kate White added top-10 finishes for the Huskers’ top unit, while fellow junior Charlotte Wendner added a top-10 finish of her own to fuel the "B" team. Wendner’s three-round total of 222 matched White for eighth place while helping the Husker reserves to a sixth-place team finish in the 13-team field.

Wendner’s performance also earned her a spot in NU’s top five in Kansas. True freshman Natalie Gleadall will round out the Huskers’ top five in Lawrence, after tying for 22nd with a 229 in the first collegiate tournament of her career.

Rachel Hanigan, Megan Place, Carolyn Schorgl, Kayla Knopik and Maddie Sheils will represent the Huskers’ second five in the 16-team field on the 6,242-yard, par-72 course at Alvamar.

The Huskers will play 36 holes on Monday beginning with a shotgun start at 8 a.m., followed by the final 18 holes on Tuesday with another 8 a.m. shotgun start.

Huskers Open Season with Chip-N Club Championships
Mary Kate Bird produced the best finish of her collegiate career with a one-under-par 215 to finish in second place individually, while powering Nebraska to the team title with a three-round total of 884 at the 2008 Chip-N Club Invitational at Wilderness Ridge Golf Course on Tuesday.

Bird, a sophomore from Kansas City, Mo., headed a contingent of five Husker individuals who finished in the top 10 at Nebraska’s season-opening tournament. Bird managed a final-round 73 to go along with an opening-round 70 and a second-round 72. The 215 marked Bird’s best tournament score of her career, while the second-place finish was also a career best.

Unfortunately for Bird, Arkansas-Little Rock’s Sara Wickstrom walked away with the individual title by birdeying the 18th hole to finish Tuesday’s final round with a one-under-par 71 to close the tournament at 214 with medalist honors.

Wickstrom, who entered the day one shot back of Bird at 143, took control of the individual race with three straight birdies on the fourth, fifth and sixth holes. But Bird battled back on the back nine and Wickstrom took three straight bogeys on 10, 11 and 12 to put Bird back in the driver’s seat. Both golfers birdied 14, but Bird took a bogey on 15 before knocking in pars the rest of the way. Wickstrom added three straight pars on 15, 16 and 17 before draining the winning birdie on 18.

"I can’t say enough about Mary Kate Bird," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "She had to eagle her last hole in qualifying just to get into the starting lineup for the tournament. Then she played solid golf throughout the tournament. In the last round she played great and just came up one stroke short. But she played tough and had a great tournament."

Bird was far from alone in playing great golf during the tournament. Husker junior JC Stevenson closed the tournament with a final-round 71 to finish in fifth place at 220. Fellow juniors Kate White and Charlotte Wendner added eighth-place finishes at 222. White, playing on NU’s top team, matched Bird with a 73 on Tuesday, while Wendner produced the best round of the day by any golfer with a career-low, three-under-par 69 to add a 222 of her own. Wendner led the Nebraska "B" team to a sixth-place team finish in the 13-team field. The Huskers’ second unit closed the tournament with a solid score of 909.

While the Nebraska "B" team put on an impressive display of the Huskers’ depth, NU’s starting five showed the ability to play consistently strong golf.

The Huskers took over the team lead from Arkansas-Little Rock heading into the back nine and built the lead until the final three holes before a late charge by UALR narrowed the final margin to four strokes. UALR closed the tournament at 888. East Carolina held on for third place at 897, 13 strokes behind the Huskers, while UC Riverside finished fourth at 904. Texas State rounded out the top five at 906, just ahead of the Huskers’ reserve squad.

"Heading into the tournament I knew we had a very talented team, but you never know what’s going to happen," Krapfl said. "To have them come out and play this well, especially in the final round, shows the kind of competitiveness our team possesses. I think this could turn out to be a special season for us."

Husker Juniors Expect to Form Strong Nucleus in 2008-09
Nebraska juniors JC Stevenson, Kate White and Charlotte Wendner return to anchor a young and talented Husker lineup in 2008-09. All three competed in the 2008 NU lineup at the Big 12 Championships and NCAA Central Regional, nearly carrying the Huskers to their fourth NCAA Championship appearance in history.

Stevenson, a native of Grand Island, Neb., capped a stellar sophomore season by tying for 14th at the NCAA Central Regional with best regional tournament score in school history (220). She played in all 37 rounds for NU and posted the Huskers’ second-best stroke average on the season (77.73).

Last year, White’s season got off to a slow start in the fall after suffering a knee injury in wet playing conditions on the first day of the Chip-N Club Invitational. The injury forced her out of the lineup for one tournament and affected her play until late in the year when she came on to post a top-20 Big 12 finish.

Wendner, a native of Bjarred, Sweden, helped the Huskers surge down the stretch last season. Wendner took hold of NU’s final lineup spot in the spring after tying for second at the BYU Dixie Classic. She added an 18th-place finish at the Big 12 Championships.

Lone Senior Place Planning to Provide Leadership
Nebraska’s only senior, Megan Place is hoping to supply the Huskers with leadership in 2008-09. The fifth-year player from Omaha has plenty of experience in that department. In April of 2008, Place was presented with one of Nebraska’s prestigious HERO Leadership Awards, presented to deserving Husker student-athletes across all sports for their commitment to service and community leadership.

Place, who has seen time in Nebraska’s starting lineup each of the past two seasons, will contend for a regular spot in the Husker starting five this year. Place is an eight-time member of the Big 12 Commissioner’s Academic Honor Roll and earned first-team academic All-Big 12 accolades as a sophomore in 2007.

Young Huskers Hoping to Make an Impact
Sophomores Rachel Hanigan and Mary Kate Bird are hoping to play significant roles in Nebraska’s fortunes in 2008-09.

Hanigan, a native of Dunlap, Iowa, has been playing strong golf during qualifying rounds leading up to the Chip-N Club Invitational, and could earn a lineup spot for the first time entering her third season in Lincoln.

Bird, a sophomore from Kansas City, Mo., got her first taste of collegiate action as a true freshman in the Husker lineup a year ago. Bird competed in five tournaments, including lineup spots at the Edwin Watts/Palmetto Invitational and Central District Invitational. However, her rookie campaign ended on a bit of a down note after she had to withdraw from the late-season Lady Buckeye Spring Invite with the flu. The illness also kept her out of NU’s lineup at the Big 12 Championships, and she did not play at the NCAA Central Regional.

Bird definitely showed potential with top-25 finishes at both the Mountain View Collegiate and BYU Dixie Classic during the spring of 2008, and after a solid summer, will be looking to be a major contributor this season.

Freshmen May Play Major Roles in Husker Success
Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl has added three highly touted freshmen in what could become the best recruiting class in Husker history.

Maddie Sheils (Boise, Idaho) and Natalie Gleadall (Stratford, Ontario, Canada) have both competed at the highest levels of junior golf.

Sheils was ranked 29th nationally in the Polo Golf rankings for the Class of 2008, after winning the prestigious Trusted Choice Big "I" Junior Classic in 2007. Sheils added an 11th-place finish at the Big "I" in 2008.

Gleadall is coming off a strong summer of competition after advancing to the semifinals of the Women’s Western Golf Association National Championships in Indiana. She added a top-20 finish at the Royale Canadian Junior Championships and also competed in the Canadian Women’s Amateur.

Gleadall also represented Ontario in the 2008 Doug Sanders International Junior Championships.

Carolyn Schorgl, a standout all-around student-athlete at Notre Dame de Sion in Missouri, rounds out the impressive true freshman class. Schorgl, from Leawood, Kan., was the 2007 Four-State Individual Champion and finished third at the 2007 Missouri Junior Girls Championship.

Stevenson Sets Record, Huskers Just Miss NCAA Tourney Bid
JC Stevenson fired a three-over-par 75 to finish with a Nebraska NCAA Regional-record 220 over 54 holes, but the Husker women’s golf team just missed a bid to the 24-team NCAA Championships by one stroke with a 10th-place tie at the 21-team NCAA Central Regional at the University of Texas Golf Course May 10.

Stevenson tied for 14th individually in the 108-player tournament and broke the previous NU regional scoring record set by All-American Sarah Sasse (222) by two strokes. Sasse produced the previous mark at the 2003 NCAA Central Regional at Lincoln’s Firethorn Golf Course. Stevenson’s 14th-place showing was NU’s highest individual regional finish since Sasse tied for fifth in 2003.

No. 3 UCLA posted a final-round 285 to claim the NCAA Central Regional title with a three-under-par 861 over 54 holes. The Bruins finished 10 shots ahead of sixth-ranked Purdue (871), and 21 strokes in front of 11th-ranked Denver (882). TCU finished fourth at 884, while Big 12 runner-up Texas A&M took fifth at 885.

The top eight teams from each of the three NCAA Regionals advanced to the 24-team NCAA Championships in Albuquerque, N.M., May 20-23. NU’s season came to an end after making a third straight NCAA Regional appearance.

Huskers Continue to Set the Pace in the Classroom
JC Stevenson, Kate White and Allison Stewart all captured NGCA Scholastic All-America honors for the Huskers at the conclusion of the 2007-08 campaign. The three awards pushed Nebraska’s nation-leading total to 50 all-time.

Stewart, who earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration from Nebraska in May of 2008, became just the second Husker in history to claim four NGCA Scholastic All-America awards, joining Jackie Beste (2003-06).

Stevenson and White, both juniors on the 2008-09 Husker squad, are well on their way to matching Beste and Stewart in that category after winning their second awards as sophomores in 2008.

The academic success of the Nebraska women’s golf team is impressive up and down the lineup. In fact, all six returning letterwinners on the Husker roster own better than a 3.4 individual grade-point average, led by White’s 3.9 GPA. Place is approaching a 3.8 GPA entering her senior year academically, while Stevenson, Bird and Hanigan own GPA’s near 3.7.

Nebraska’s academic success is nothing new. In 2006-07, the Husker women’s golf team produced the fifth-best team grade-point-average of any collegiate women’s golf team in the nation.