Huskers Close Fall at The Challenge at Wolfdancer

The Nebraska women’s golf team concludes its 2008 fall schedule by competing at The Challenge at Wolfdancer, Nov. 2-3, in Lost Pines, Texas.

The Huskers will be part of a 16-team tournament field filled with a heavy Big 12 and Big Ten Conference flavor.

Fellow Big 12 squads Baylor, Colorado, Iowa State, Kansas State and Texas Tech will join Big Ten foes Illinois, Iowa, Michigan and Northwestern in making up a majority of the field.

The Huskers and the rest of the field will hit the 6,141-yard, par-72 layout at the Wolfdancer Golf Club on Sunday, Nov. 2. The tournament will begin with a shotgun start at 8 a.m. The teams will play 36 holes on the opening day. The Challenge at Wolfdancer concludes with 18 holes on Monday beginning at 8 a.m. Live scoring will be available throughout the tournament on Huskers.com through GolfStat.com.

JC Stevenson will lead Nebraska’s five-player lineup in Texas. The junior from Grand Island, Neb., owns four top-15 finishes this fall, and is coming off a tie for sixth at the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate, Oct. 19-21. Stevenson has finished among the top seven at three of NU’s four fall events and carries a team-best 75.25 stroke average.

True freshman Natalie Gleadall will play out of the No. 2 spot in Nebraska’s lineup. The Stratford, Ontario, native has continued to improve throughout the fall. Gleadall has finished among the top-35 individuals in all four of NU’s events, including a tie for seventh at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invite.

Junior Kate White has also played well near the top of the Husker lineup throughout the fall. White opened the season with three consecutive top-10 finishes, before settling for a tie for 27th at the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate. White’s 75.67 stroke average ranks second on the team and is nearly three strokes better than her season average a year ago.

Rachel Hanigan and Charlotte Wendner round out Nebraska’s starting five at The Challenge at Wolfdancer, while true freshman Maddie Sheils will join the tournament field as an individual.

The Challenge at Wolfdancer
Host: Texas State
Location: Lost Pines, Texas
Course: Wolfdancer Golf Club
Par: 72
Yardage: 6,141
Sunday, 8 a.m. (36 holes) Shotgun
Monday, 8 a.m. (18 holes) Shotgun

Nebraska Lineup
JC Stevenson
Natalie Gleadall
Kate White
Rachel Hanigan
Charlotte Wendner
Individual: Maddie Sheils

The Challenge at Wolfdancer Field
Baylor, College of Charleston, Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Iowa State, Kansas State, McNeese State, Michigan, Missouri State, Nebraska, Northwestern, SMU, Texas State, Texas Tech

Live Scoring: GolfStat.com

Stevenson Leads NU to Fourth at Lady Pirate Intercollegiate
JC Stevenson fired a final-round 73 to finish in a tie for sixth place individually, while helping Nebraska to a fourth-place finish at the Lady Pirate Intercollegiate on Oct. 21.

Stevenson, a junior from Grand Island, Neb., finished the 54-hole event on the par-71, 5,939-yard layout at the Greenville Country Club with a 222, after consistently solid rounds of 76, 73 and 73. It was her third top-10 finish of the season, and fourth straight top-15 showing to open the year.

With Stevenson leading the way, Nebraska maintained its fourth-place standing to close the tournament. The Huskers finished with a three-round score of 917, after settling for a final-round 309.

Georgia State ran away with the team title by closing the tournament at 882, seven strokes ahead of the hosts from East Carolina (899).

While Stevenson continued to climb the leaderboard on the final day of the tournament, Nebraska also received solid pushes up the leaderboard from Kate White and Natalie Gleadall.

White, a junior from Waukegan, Ill., bounced back from a rugged second round to finish with a 76. White closed the tournament in a tie for 27th at 231. She was joined by Gleadall in a tie for 27th, after the true freshman from Stratford, Ontario, added a final-round 76.

Huskers 70th in GolfStat Head-to-Head Rankings
Nebraska was ranked No. 70 nationally in the GolfStat head-to-head rankings released on Oct. 29. The Huskers are rated 58th nationally in team scoring average among all NCAA Division I teams.

The tournament field at The Challenge at Wolfdancer will provide a strong contingent of head-to-head competition. Colorado headlines a field of 10 top-100 teams, ranking No. 30 nationally. Michigan is not far behind the Buffs at No. 34 nationally, while Baylor ranks 46th, Iowa State is 66th and Texas Tech is 69th. The hosts from Texas State are ranked No. 84 in the most recent rankings, while Iowa comes in at No. 86, Idaho is 94th and Illinois rounds out the top 100 teams in the 16-team field at 99th.

Juniors Kate White and JC Stevenson are early contenders for Big 12 recognition in the GolfStat rankings. Stevenson is the highest ranked Husker, coming in at No. 155. She climbed 35 spots after posting her third top-10 finish of the year at the Lady Pirate Collegiate. White joins Stevenson in the top 200 by ranking 197th nationally.

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."

Husker Juniors 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 Making an Impact on NU Lineup
Sophomores Rachel Hanigan and Mary Kate Bird are playing 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.