Huskers Head to Lady Pirate Intercollegiate

The Nebraska women’s golf team ventures to Greenville, N.C., to compete in the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate hosted by East Carolina, Oct. 19-21.

The 21-team tournament field at the Greenville Country Club will be the largest the Huskers have faced this season. It will also present plenty of new opponents for the Huskers. NU has faced a steady diet of Big 12, Big Ten and Missouri Valley Conference competition thus far, but the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate will bring a distinct East Coast flavor with teams from North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Washington, D.C., just to name a few.

The field, which includes nine teams ranked in the Golfweek Top 100 rankings, will hit the 5,939-yard, par-71 layout for 18 holes on Sunday at 7 a.m. (central).

Georgia State (55th) enters the tournament with the highest ranking in the Golfweek poll, while Nebraska is ranked 56th. East Carolina (68th), East Tennessee State (73rd), Florida International (76th), Western Carolina (78th), Maryland (85th), Miami (89th) and William & Mary (90th) will also provide a formidable field for the Huskers.

Juniors Kate Whie and JC Stevenson will lead the Husker contingent in North Carolina. White has finished in the top 10 in all three of NU’s tournaments this season, including a tie for fifth at the McHaney/Morehead Invitational in Lubbock, Texas, Oct. 6-7. White finished fourth at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invite after opening the season in a tie for eighth at Nebraska’s Chip-N Club Invite.

Stevenson has produced three straight top-15 finishes to open the season. The Grand Island native opened the year with a fifth-place showing at the Chip-N Club, before tying for 14th in Kansas. She is coming a tie for seventh at the McHaney/Morehead Invitational, Oct. 6-7.

Sophomore Rachel Hanigan will play out of the No. 3 spot in NU’s lineup after a career-best tie for 18th at the McHaney/Morehead. Hanigan owns three top-30 finishes this season. Sophomore Mary Kate Bird has placed in the top 35 in all three of NU’s tournaments this year, including a pair of top-15 showings. She was the runner-up at NU’s Chip-N Club Invite to open the season, a tournament that East Carolina also competed.

True freshman Natalie Gleadall will round out Nebraska’s top five, after finishing in the top 35 at all three events so far this season.

Huskers Open Season with Chip-N Club Championship
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, Sept. 15-16.

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.

"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."

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 final-round 73, 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.

"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."

White, Huskers Finish Fifth at McHaney/Morehead Invite
Kate White posted her second straight top-five finish by shooting a final-round 74 to help Nebraska to a fifth-place finish at the McHaney/Morehead Invite at The Rawls Course, Oct. 6-7.

White, a junior from Waukegan, Ill., notched her third consecutive top-10 individual finish by closing the 54-hole tournament at 226. White’s one-over-par 74 followed on the heels of an even-par 73 in Monday’s second round. White was joined in the top 10 on the individual leaderboard by fellow Husker JC Stevenson. The junior from Grand Island, Neb., closed the 13-team tournament in a tie for seventh place at 227 with a final-round 77. Rachel Hanigan (233, tied for 18th), Natalie Gleadall (238, tied for 32nd) and Mary Kate Bird (238, tied for 32nd) all added top-35 finishes for the Huskers by producing solid final rounds of 78 on the 6,525-yard, par-73 layout at The Rawls Course.

The consistent scoring by the Huskers allowed them to close the tournament at 922 after a final-round 307. Arkansas-Little Rock stormed to the team title by firing a tournament-best 297 on Tuesday to overtake both Baylor and the hosts from Texas Tech. Baylor entered the final round with a three-shot lead on Texas Tech and a four-stroke lead over UALR, but led by individual medalist Sara Wickstrom (73-68-71-212), UALR rolled to a five-stroke victory at 908.

Huskers Climb to 47th in GolfStat Head-to-Head Rankings
Nebraska was ranked No. 47 nationally in the GolfStat head-to-head rankings released on Oct. 17. The Huskers were the sixth-highest ranked team in the Big 12 according to the early rankings.

Colorado was ranked ninth, while Oklahoma State was 10th, followed by No. 26 Texas Tech, No. 33 Baylor and No. 46 Texas. Missouri comes in at 59th, Texas A&M 60th, Oklahoma 67th, Iowa State 82nd, Kansas 100th and Kansas State at 144th to round out the Big 12 teams in rankings.

Juniors Kate White and JC Stevenson are early contenders for Big 12 recognition in the head-to-head rankings. White is the highest ranking Husker in the national rankings, coming in at No. 160, which ranks 12th among Big 12 individuals. Stevenson is not far behind at No. 190 nationally and 18th in the Big 12.

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.

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 has earned a lineup spot for the first time in 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.

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.