Huskers Continue Fall Campaign in Washington

The Nebraska women's golf team returns to the course after a three-week break from competition when the Huskers travel to Sammamish, Wash., for the 30th annual Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational, Oct. 3-5.

The 12-team tournament, hosted by the University of Washington, begins with 18 holes on Monday, Oct. 3, at 11 a.m. (central). The three-day, 54-hole event continues on Tuesday with 18 holes beginning at 12:30 p.m. (central), before concluding with a final round on Wednesday, Oct. 5, at 10 a.m.

The Huskers and the other 11 teams in the field will take aim at the par-72, 6,063-yard layout at the Sahalee Country Club.

The tournament field has a distinct Pac-12 Conference flavor that includes the hosts from Washington, Washington State, Oregon, Oregon State, California and Nebraska's former Big 12 Conference brethren Colorado. The six Pac-12 teams join BYU, Gonzaga, Idaho, San Jose State, UNLV and the Huskers in the field.

Nebraska opened the season with a fourth-place showing in the 15-team Chip-N Club Invitational at the Country Club of Lincoln Sept. 12-13.

Seniors Madeleine Sheils and Kayla Knopik and sophomore Steffi Neisen all notched top-10 individual finishes at the Chip-N Club Invite. Knopik tied her career best with a three-round total of 227 while producing a career-best tie for sixth. Neisen matched Knopik with a 227 to tie for sixth, including a career-best 71 in the second round. Sheils managed a 229 to finish 10th.

Sheils, a native of Boise, Idaho, will play out of the No. 1 spot in the Husker lineup in Washington, followed by Neisen and Knopik. Sophomore Katelyn Wright earned a spot for the second straight tournament to open the season, while true freshman Shelby Martinek will make her first career appearance in the NU top five.

Live scoring of the tournament will be available at GolfStat.com.

Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational
Location: Sammamish, Wash.
Host: University of Washington
Course: Sahalee Country Club
Par/Yardage: 72/6,063

All Times Central
Monday, Oct. 3 (18) 11 a.m.
Tuesday, Oct. 4 (18) 12:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Oct. 5 (18) 10 a.m.

Nebraska Lineup
1. Madeleine Sheils
2. Steffi Neisen
3. Kayla Knopik
4. Katelyn Wright
5. Shelby Martinek

Edean Ihlanfeldt Invitational (12 Teams)
BYU, California, Colorado, Gonzaga, Idaho, Nebraska, Oregon, Oregon State, San Jose State, UNLV, Washington, Washington State

Live Scoring: Golfstat.com 

Three Huskers Finish in Top 10 at Chip-N Club
Kayla Knopik, Steffi Neisen and Madeleine Sheils all produced top-10 individual finishes, as the Nebraska women's golf team finished fourth in a hotly contested Chip-N Club Invitational at the Country Club of Lincoln, Sept 12-13.

Knopik, a senior from Papillion, Neb., fired a three-over-par 75 to tie for sixth and produced the first top-10 finish of her collegiate career. Knopik's three-round total of 227 (75-77-75) also matched her career best, which she set last season at the UNLV Spring Invitational. Knopik's previous best tournament finish came at the 2010 BYU Entrada Classic, when she tied for 14th.

Neisen, a sophomore from New Prague, Minn., added the best tournament finish of her young career by tying Knopik for sixth at 227. Neisen, who entered the final round in third place after firing a tournament-best 71 on the Country Club's 6,186-yard, par-72 layout in the second round, settled for a final-round 78 Tuesday.

Senior Madeleine Sheils matched Knopik for the Huskers' best round of the day with a 75 to move up two spots on the leaderboard to finish in 10th place. The Boise, Idaho, native finished at 229 (77-77-75).

Sophomore Katelyn Wright provided NU's fourth score in the final round with a 79. The Incline Village, Nev., native closed the tournament in a tie for 38th at 243.

Sheils, Knopik and Neisen helped the Huskers challenge for the top spot in the team standings midway through the final round. NU entered the final round six strokes back of junior college national power Redlands CC, five shots back of SMU and three strokes behind Iowa. The Huskers pushed well ahead of the Hawkeyes and briefly pulled even with the Mustangs and Redlands CC, before settling for third place in the final standings.

SMU captured the team title with a 54-hole total of 920, including a final-round 306. The Mustangs' Felicia Espericueta captured medalist honors by matching the best round of the tournament with a one-under 71 on Tuesday. She finished with a three-round total of 220, one stroke better than 2010 Chip-N Club champion Amy Anderson from North Dakota State (74-73-74-221). Redlands' Sarah Schober took third at 223, while SMU's Maria Elena Villamil added a fourth-place finish at 225. Missouri State's Kelsey Welber rounded out the top five at 226.

SMU outlasted Redlands (921) by just one stroke in the team race, while Iowa rallied late in the round to hold off the Huskers by one stroke at 925. Nebraska closed the tournament in fourth place at 926 (312-307-307), while Missouri State finished fifth (930).

Senior Trio Leads Huskers into First Season in Big Ten
The Big Red has moved to the Big Ten, and the Nebraska women's golf team is planning to show some big benefits from experience in 2011-12.

The Huskers, who were one of the most inexperienced teams in the Big 12 Conference last year with four first-year players in the lineup at times, return all but one starter from a year ago.

Returning senior starters Madeleine Sheils, Kayla Knopik and Katie Keiser will lead a young and talented collection of seven freshmen and sophomores into Nebraska's inaugural Big Ten campaign with plenty of reasons for optimism.

Although the Huskers are still relatively young, Sheils and Knopik played in every round for the Huskers last season, and Keiser added 26 rounds in her first year at NU in 2010-11.

"There is no doubt that we will be more experienced at the top of our roster this year compared to last year," Nebraska Coach Robin Krapfl said. "I think that is really going to help us in all areas of our program."

Sheils, a three-year letterwinner from Boise, Idaho, brings a load of collegiate and national amateur experience to the top of the Husker lineup. She has played every round in the Husker lineup the past two seasons and at the start of 2011-12.

Sheils owns five career top-10 finishes and nine top-25 showings, while owning Nebraska's top returning stroke average from 2010-11. While battling for All-Big Ten honors on the course, the three-time NGCA Scholastic All-American will try to become just the fourth Husker in history to earn four Scholastic All-America awards, while also contending for CoSIDA Academic All-America honors.

"Maddie has been a tremendous leader both on and off the course during her career, and she had an outstanding summer to set the tone for our season," Krapfl said. "We expect Maddie to have her best season as a Husker because she has put in the work to deserve it."

Knopik has been a fixture in the lineup, competing in 44 consecutive rounds in the Husker top five. A first-team academic All-Big 12 pick in 2011, Knopik has continued to shave strokes off her game each season.

"Kayla has developed into a very good college golfer by making major improvements in her time at Nebraska," Krapfl said. "She is a great example of what hard work and a great attitude can do for your game. We hope she has a great senior season."

Sophomores Hope to Make Greater Impact
In addition to three seniors with playing experience, the Huskers welcome back three true freshmen from the 2010-11 season who earned significant lineup time.

Sophomore Steffi Neisen headlines the talented trio after competing in all 32 rounds for Nebraska last season. The New Prague, Minn., native produced the Huskers' No. 3 stroke average (77.13) on the year, which also ranked as the third-best stroke average by a freshman in school history. In the classroom, she was also an NGCA Scholastic All-American.

With a year of collegiate experience and a strong summer under her belt, Neisen is off to a strong start after tying for sixth at the Chip-N Club Invitational.

"Steffi is a great student with outstanding character who has natural leadership qualities. She is a hard worker and cares about those around her," Krapfl said. "She has a solid all-around game with outstanding fundamentals. She is also extremely competitive and will never give up."

While Neisen was a fixture in the Husker lineup as a freshman, Katelyn Wright and Remylee Molyneux also made multiple appearances in the NU top five.

Wright was regularly NU's No. 6 golfer early in the year, but earned spring lineup spots at the BYU Entrada Classic and the Mountain View Collegiate. For the season, she posted an 80.08 stroke average over 25 rounds. She opened 2011-12 by tying for 38th at the Chip-N Club Invitational while playing as NU's No. 4 golfer.

"Katelyn and Remylee really gained some valuable experience last year," Krapfl said. "We think they are going to see some pretty big jumps in their games this year to give us six experienced golfers heading into the year."

Molyneux played nine rounds in the Husker lineup at the end of the fall season, but was sidelined by injury early in the spring. She competed in 18 rounds on the year.

Freshman Foursome Add Depth and Competition
Along with added experience, the Husker roster features more depth in 2011-12 with the addition of four talented freshmen.

Nebraska entered 2010-11 with just eight players on the roster, and Bird and Molyneux each missed significant portions of last season with injuries.

"Last year, inexperience and lack of depth were two pretty big issues that we had to deal with all year," Krapfl said. "We are still going to be pretty young this year, but we think we are going to be a much deeper team, which usually creates more competition in qualifying."

One of the top high school golfers in the state of Arizona over the past four years and an experienced junior golfer at the national level, Shelby Martinek brings a decorated resume to Nebraska. The 2008 Arizona Class 5A-II state champion, Martinek was ranked as one of the top 175 players in the GolfWeek/Sagarin girls rankings as a senior at Marcos de Niza High School in Tempe.

Martinek is getting a chance to help the Huskers early in her career, competing as an individual at the Chip-N Club Invite before earning her first lineup spot at Washington.

"A lot of schools were recruiting Shelby, and we feel great about her choice to become a Husker," Krapfl said. "She has an outstanding short game, works hard and has really developed into a player who can manage her game and shoot low numbers."

A pair of talented Nebraska natives will try to bolster the Huskers for the future with the addition of Lincoln's Jackie O'Doherty and Morgan Smejkal from Columbus.

O'Doherty, a two-time Nebraska Class A state champion, was a three-time Class A all-state pick in golf. She was also a member of the 2011 Four State Team and the 2010 Nebraska Junior Golf All-Star Team. She was also a competitive swimmer and posted better than a 4.0 GPA at Lincoln East.

Smejkal was a two-time Class A all-state selection and produced a pair of top-five performances at the state tournament in her career. Smejkal was also a member of the Nebraska Junior Golf All-Star Team in 2009 and 2010, and she was a member of the Nebraska Four State Team in 2010 and 2011. She was also an outstanding basketball player who set Columbus High School's three-point record.

One of the top young golfers in California, Cassidy Stelzmiller brings loads of potential to Nebraska. At the junior level, Stelzmiller was one of the top 400 players in the GolfWeek/Sagarin girls ratings.

O'Doherty, Smejkal and Stelzmiller could all redshirt in 2011-12.

Huskers Continue to Set the Pace in the Classroom
Nebraska leads the nation with 59 NGCA Scholastic All-Americans since 1989, including two in 2011. Senior Madeleine Sheils has captured three straigh NGCA Scholastic All-America honors and will try to become just the fourth Husker in history to win four awards in 2012.

Sheils, a senior philosophy major from Boise, Idaho, hopes to join Jackie Beste, Allison Stewart and JC Stevenson as four-time Husker NGCA Scholastic All-Americans. Sheils was joined on the 2011 NGCA Scholastic All-America squad by 2010-11 freshman Steffi Neisen. The sophomore from New Prague, Minn., will take aim at her second straight award in 2012.

Overall, Nebraska owns one of the richest academic traditions in all of collegiate sports with a nation-leading 291 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans across all teams and all sports. The Huskers also lead the nation with 16 NCAA Top Eight Award winners. In 2010-11, Nebraska produced 15 CoSIDA Academic All-Americans while 113 student-athletes across all sports earned their bachelor's degress during the 2010-11 academic year. The Huskers also led the Big 12 in both academic All-Big 12 selections and members of the Big 12 Commissioner's Honor Roll.