Lubbock, Texas - Charlotte Wendner earned a spot on the Big 12 All-Championship Team by finishing in a tie for 10th at 232, helping the Nebraska women's golf team to a 10th-place finish at the 2009 Big 12 Championships at the Rawls Course on Sunday.
Wendner, a junior from Bjarred, Sweden, entered the final round of the 60-player championship in a tie for third individually at 148, but her 84 over the final 18 holes on the par-73, 6,564-yard layout of the Rawls Course dropped her down the leaderboard on Sunday.
"The course played really tough today," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "They played championship pin placement today and it was tough for everybody. Scores were up across the board for all the teams. It is too bad we couldn't make a few more putts today, because as a team, we finished just three strokes out of sixth and just nine strokes out of fourth."
Despite the challenging scoring conditions, which included wind gusts up to 39 mph on the course during the final round, junior JC Stevenson produced a solid 78 to climb into a tie for 20th in the final standings. Stevenson, a Grand Island, Neb., native finished with a three-round total of 236. True freshman Natalie Gleadall also fired a 78 on Sunday for her best round of the 54-hole event. Gleadall closed her first Big 12 Tournament appearance in a tie for 50th at 247.
Sophomore Rachel Hanigan (Dunlap, Iowa) managed Nebraska's fourth score of the day with an 84, as NU posted a final-round 324 to finish the tournament at 953. The Huskers finished just three stroke behind sixth-place Baylor (950) and just nine strokes behind fourth-place Kansas State (944). The Wildcats held onto to a fourth-place finish despite a final-round 322, just two shots better than NU.
"We certainly missed having Mary Kate Bird in the lineup," Krapfl said. "She would have been at the top of our lineup, and without her we had to count an 87 yesterday and an 84 today. This course really played to her strengths as well, so it could have been a different story with her in the lineup."
Bird suffered a wrist injury in the first round of Nebraska's final regular-season tournament at the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational, April 18-19. She closed the season with Nebraska's best stroke average (76.68) which included rounds of 81-79-78 earlier this season at the McHaney/Morehead Invitational on the Rawls Course.
Oklahoma State (295-302-312-909) captured its seventh Big 12 women's golf title, defeating second-place Texas A&M (304-299-319-922) by 13 strokes. Oklahoma finished a distant third at 938. Texas A&M's Ashley Freeman earned the Big 12 individual crown by winning a two-hole playoff with Oklahoma's Kendall Dye. Both golfers ended regulation at six-over-par 225.
Oklahoma State's Pernilla Lindberg and Caroline Hedwall tied for third, while OSU's Amanda Johnson took fifth. On the strength of producing three of the top five individual finishers, Oklahoma State Coach Annie Young became the first individual in history across any sport to win a Big 12 team title as both a competitor and head coach.
Nebraska will return its entire lineup for the 2009-10 campaign, graduating just one senior, Megan Place. Pairings for the three 21-team NCAA Regional tournaments will be announced Monday, April 27, at NCAA.com.
2009 Big 12 Conference Championships
April 24-26
The Rawls Course (Lubbock, Texas)
Par 73/6,564 Yards
Final Team Standings
1. Oklahoma State - 295-302-312-909
2. Texas A&M - 304-299-319-922
3. Oklahoma - 315-306-317-938
4. Kansas State - 311-311-322-944
5. Kansas - 312-310-323-945
6. Baylor - 322-313-315-950
T8. Colorado - 317-305-330-952
T8. Iowa State - 325-315-312-952
10. Nebraska - 315-314-324-953
T11. Missouri - 317-311-312-329-957
T11. Texas Tech - 326-312-319-957
Final Individual Leaderboard
T1. Ashley Freeman, Texas A&M - 72-73-80-225
T1. Kendall Dye, Oklahoma - 76-73-76-225
T3. Caroline Hedwall, Oklahoma State - 70-75-81-226
T3. Pernilla Lindberg, Oklahoma State - 73-75-78-226
5. Amanda Johnson, Oklahoma State - 73-75-80-228
T6. Meghan Gockel, Kansas - 75-76-79-230
T6. Emily Talley, Colorado - 76-76-78-230
T6. Sarah Zwartynski, Texas A&M - 78-74-78-230
9. Caroline Masson, Oklahoma State - 79-77-75-231
T10. Charlotte Wendner, Nebraska - 75-73-84-232
T10. Lauren Johnson, Texas A&M - 78-74-80-232
T10. Rosalyn Kim, Texas Tech - 80-73-79-232
T10. Nicole Vandermade, Texas - 80-77-75-232
Nebraska Individuals (Final Results)
T10. Charlotte Wendner - 75-73-84-232
T20. JC Stevenson - 80-78-78-236
T32. Rachel Hanigan - 81-76-84-241
T50. Natalie Gleadall - 82-87-78-247
58. Maddie Sheils - 79-87-87-253