Huskers Get Big 12 Preview at Johnie Imes Invitational

The Nebraska women's golf team will get an early taste of the layout and the competition at the 2011 Big 12 Championships, when the Huskers travel to Columbia, Mo., for the Johnie Imes Invitational, Monday, Oct. 4 and Tuesday, Oct. 5.

The Huskers will be one of eight Big 12 Conference teams in the 15-team field on the 6,204-yard, par-72 layout at The Club at Old Hawthorne - the home course of the 2011 Big 12 Championships, April 22-24.

Baylor, Colorado, Kansas, Kansas State, Oklahoma and Oklahoma State will join the hosts from Missouri and the Huskers in a talent-laden field.

Following a practice round on Sunday, the teams will hit the course for 36 holes beginning with a shotgun start on Monday at 8 a.m. The final round is set for a Tuesday shotgun start at 8 a.m.

Nebraska junior Madeleine Sheils leads the Huskers to Missouri after tying for third place at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational in Lawrence, Kan., Sept. 27-28. Sheils tied the best score of her career with a 54-hole tally of 223. The Boise, Idaho, native's effort included a two-under-par 70 in the second round.

Sheils was also NU's top finisher at the 2010 Big 12 Championships, just missing All-Big 12 honors by finishing 11th.

Freshman Steffi Neisen added a tie for 15th at Kansas, while Mary Kate Bird provided a third Husker in the top 20 by tying for 18th. Junior Kayla Knopik, who has been NU's most consistent performer early in the fall, and junior Carolyn Schorgl will round out the Husker top five. Schorgl will be making her first start of the year.

"All of our players work hard, have great attitudes, and are getting better everyday," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "This tournament will be a really good measuring stick for us early in the season."

Johnie Imes Invitational
Host: Missouri
Location: Columbia, Mo.
Course: The Club at Old Hawthorne
Par/Yardage: 72/6,204 yards
Tee Times (central)
Monday, Oct. 4 (36) - 8 a.m. (shotgun)
Tuesday, Oct. 5 (18) - 8 a.m. (shotgun)

Nebraska Lineup
1. Madeleine Sheils
2. Steffi Neisen
3. Mary Kate Bird
4. Kayla Knopik
5. Carolyn Schorgl

Nebraska Individuals
Remy Molyneux

Johnie Imes Invitational Field (15 Teams)
Baylor, Colorado, Florida International, Illinois State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Missouri State, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Princeton, Texas State, UALR, Wisconsin

Live Scoring: Golfstat.com

Sheils Fires Career-Best at Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invite
Madeleine Sheils produced the best tournament finish of her career by tying for third while helping the Nebraska women's golf team to a fourth-place finish at the 12-team Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational, Sept. 27-28.

Sheils, a junior from Boise, Idaho, matched her career-best three-round total on a par-72 course with a 223. Her tie for third surpassed her previous career-best tie for seventh at the 2010 Northern Migration in Florence, Ariz. Sheils, who entered the final round with a four-shot lead after firing a two-under-par 142 on day one, settled for an 81 in the final round.

"If you would have told us before the tournament that Maddie was going to finish third, we would have been pretty excited about that," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "She obviously didn't play as well today as she did yesterday, so she's disappointed with the outcome, but at the same time, we need to take the whole tournament as a positive and build from there."

Freshman Steffi Neisen also settled for a final-round 81 after entering the last 18 holes on the 6,279-yard layout of the Alvamar Country Club in a tie for sixth at 149. Neisen finished in a tie for 15th at 230.

Mary Kate Bird led the Huskers with a season-best 75 in the final round to climb nine spots and finish in a tie for 18th at 232. Junior Kayla Knopik tied for 23rd, but also produced her best round of the young season with a final-round 77. Knopik, who is the only Husker this season to produce five consecutive scores of better than 80, closed the tournament at 233 (78-78-77).

Kansas, which entered the final round with a one-stroke lead over the second-place Huskers at 603, won the tournament with a three-round total of 903, 10 shots ahead of runner-up UALR (913). Kansas State took third with a 916, two shots ahead of the fourth-place Huskers (918).

KU golfers also captured the top two spots in the individual standings, with Gracy Thiry taking medalist honors with three rounds of 73 to finish at 219. Thiry edged Jayhawk teammate Katy Nugent (79-69-72-220) by one stroke, while South Florida's Shena Yang tied Sheils for third at 223.

Bird, Sheils Return to Lead New Look Huskers
Nebraska's lone senior Mary Kate Bird returns to lead a young and relatively inexperienced Husker women's golf team into the 2010-11 season.

Bird, a three-year letterwinner from Kansas City, Mo., has competed in 72 rounds in the NU lineup and owns 11 career top-25 finishes, including a runner-up finish at the 2008 Chip-N Club Invite.

Bird will be joined in a leadership role by junior Madeleine Sheils. Nebraska's top finisher at the 2010 Big 12 Championships, Sheils just missed All-Big 12 honors with her 11th-place showing. The Boise, Idaho, native's performance and confidence peaked at the end of a strong sophomore season.

Last year, Sheils competed in 31 rounds and posted a strong 76.35 stroke average, nearly seven strokes better than her rookie campaign in 2008-09. Her 76.35 represented the third-best stroke average by a sophomore in school history.

As a junior, Sheils will look for continued improvement on the course. The two-time NGCA Scholastic All-American will also continue her excellence in the classroom.

Knopik Hopes to Continue Climb in 2010-11
Nebraska native Kayla Knopik enjoyed a breakout 2010 spring season that concluded with her tie for 39th at the Big 12 Championships.

The junior from Papillion, Neb., is in her fourth season in the Nebraska women's golf program in 2010-11, after earning a spot in NU's starting five late last spring.

Knopik, who has continued to improve each season at Nebraska, made the most of her opportunity last season by notching a 78.22 stroke average over 18 rounds. Her average represented a 4.61-stroke per round improvement over her redshirt freshman campaign in 2008-09, when she played just six rounds.

She produced a career-best tie for 14th at the 2010 BYU at Entrada Classic with a career-best three-round score of 230.

After a solid summer that included a fifth-place finish at the Nebraska State Stroke Play Championship and a third-place showing at the Eastern Stroke Play, Knopik is hoping her game continues to improve.

She was hampered by a thumb injury midway through the summer, which could affect her performance during the fall campaign.

Schorgl Hoping for Breakout Season as Junior
Junior Carolyn Schorgl hopes to make an impact on the Nebraska lineup in her third season in the program in 2010-11. The Leawood, Kan., native has competed in 20 rounds in her first three years in the program.

Last year at the Chip-N Club Invitational, Schorgl fired a career-best 73 in the final round. At the 2008 Chip-N Club, she produced a career-best three-round total of 232, which was good for 33rd in her first collegiate event.

A solid performer in the classroom and the community, Schorgl is a four-time Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll selection and a recipient of a 2010 Nebraska Student-Athlete HERO Leadership Award.

Transfer Keiser Tries to Make Impact in Home State
Katie Keiser will try to make an immediate impact on Nebraska's lineup after transferring from Winthrop before the start of the 2010-11 season.

The Gothenburg, Neb., native spent her first two collegiate seasons at Winthrop University before joining the Husker program in the summer of 2010.

Keiser showed her abilities during the summer by finishing as the runner-up at the 2010 Nebraska State Stroke Play Championship on her home course in Gothenburg. Keiser (230) finished three shots back of former Husker JC Stevenson (227) in the 54-hole event. Current Husker teammate Kayla Knopik (239) added a fifth-place finish.

Keiser earned a lineup spot for the Huskers at the season-opening Chip-N Club Invitational and produced rounds of 79 and 83 in the rain-shortened event.

Freshmen Plan to Lay Foundation for the Future
A talented three-player freshman class hopes to lay the foundation for future success in the Husker program.

Steffi Neisen, New Prague, Minn. (New Prague)
Steffi Neisen, a newcomer from New Prague, Minn., could make the quickest impact on the Husker program. A four-time top-seven finisher in the state of Minnesota's largest class of high school golf (AAA), Neisen has earned a spot in Nebraska's top five in each of NU's first three tournaments.

A six-year varsity player at New Prague High School, Neisen was a five-time Missota Conference Player of the Year (2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010), and a six-time all-conference selection.

Neisen posted NU's top finish with a tie for 29th (76-79-155) at the Chip-N Club Invitational, before tying for 15th (75-74-81-230) at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invite.

Katelyn Wright, Incline Village, Nev. (Incline)
Fellow freshman Katelyn Wright comes to Nebraska as one of the most accomplished prep golfers in Husker history. A four-time Nevada High School state champion, she is just the second player in Nevada history to accomplish that feat. As a senior, she won the title by 26 strokes with a two-under-par 142 over 36 holes. In 2008, she won the crown by 28 strokes.

Wright was also a four-time qualifier for the Callaway Junior World Championships and a three-time member and two-time captain of the Junior America's Cup team.

An outstanding all-around athlete, Wright was also a two-time state champion in track and field, and a first-team all-state basketball selection as a point guard on Incline High School's Class 2A team.

Off the fields of competition, Wright was the Incline High School Student Body President in 2009-10, after serving as the junior class vice president in 2008-09.

Wright is a second generation Husker golfer, following in the footsteps of her mother, Shelly (Godeken) Wright, who was a two-time All-Big Eight selection at NU in 1983 and 1984.

Wright fired a 74 in the opening round of the Chip-N Club Invitational. She closed in a tie for 36th at her first collegiate event, playing outside of NU's lineup, before earning a lineup spot at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational.

Remylee Molyneux, Thousand Oaks, Calif. (Oaks Christian)
A talented golfer out of California, Remylee Molyneux comes to Nebraska after a successful high school and junior career. The 2009 Tri-Valley League Champion and 2008 Ventura County Junior Golfer of the Year at Oaks Christian High School, Molyneux has been a consistent winner over the past several seasons. In fact, she was the medalist at 11 high school tournaments in 2008.

Molyneux won medalist honors in 11 of 15 high school tournaments as a junior in 2008, including the Tri-Valley League crown. She also assisted in coaching the middle school girls golf program at Oaks Christian.

She was the 2008 Ventura County Junior Golfer of the Year, winning four consecutive VCJGA tournaments in the summer of 2008, including the Ventura County State Stroke Play Championship. She fired a career-best 71 to win the Thousand Oaks Open on July 8, 2008. She also won a 15-18 California Junior Tour event at Buenaventura at the age of 15.

Molyneux matched fellow freshman Steffi Neisen for NU's top finish at the season-opening Chip-N Club Invitational. Playing as an individual outside of Nebraska's lineup, Molyneux fired rounds of 79 and 76 to tie for 29th. She competed as an individual at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invite, before also winning the right to travel as NU's lone individual at the Johnie Imes Invitational.

Huskers Continue to Set the Pace in the Classroom
Three Huskers captured NGCA Scholastic All-America honors in 2010, pushing Nebraska's nation-leading total to 57 since 1989. JC Stevenson became the third Husker in history to be a four-time NGCA Scholastic All-American, while fellow 2010 senior Charlotte Wendner added the second NGCA honor of her career.

Sophomore Madeleine Sheils claimed the second NGCA Scholastic All-America award of her career, putting her on track to join Stevenson, Jackie Beste and Allison Stewart as a four-time award winner.