Triple Threat: Husker Women's Golfers to Watch

Nebraska's Kelli Ann Strand, Miu Takahashi and Michaela Vavrova were among the list of Big Ten Women's Golfers to Watch when the conference announced its list of preseason top players on Thursday, Aug. 31, ahead of the opening of the 2023-24 collegiate season.

Strand enters her second season at Nebraska ready to build off the best freshman season in school history. The sophomore from Challis, Idaho, captured second-team All-Big Ten honors after posting a school-record 72.05 stroke average in 2022-23. She tied the Nebraska record with a 202 (-14) three-round total at the 2022 Green Wave Classic  on her way to an individual tournament title to open her collegiate career. She finished with six top-10 finishes before adding a tie for 20th at the Big Ten Championship. After leading Nebraska to its second NCAA Regional appearance in the last three years and finishing in the top 125 in the NCAA Division I individual rankings, Strand earned a spot in the 123rd U.S. Women's Amateur Championship in August. Earlier in the summer, she advanced to match play at the Women's Western Amateur.

Takahashi added a breakthrough season in her second year as a Husker in 2022-23. The junior from Nasu-machi, Japan, set the Nebraska sophomore stroke average record (73.49) on her way to finishing the year among the top 250 golfers in NCAA Division I. She was named the Big Ten Golfer of the Week (Oct. 12, 2022) after capturing an individual title at the Dale McNamara Invitational in Oklahoma. She also helped the Huskers to team titles at the Badger Fall Invitational and the Westbrook Spring Invitational, where she fired a career-best 212 over three rounds. Takahashi is coming off a strong summer that included a victory at the Nebraska Women's Amateur Championship. She also played alongside Strand at the U.S. Women's Amateur.

Vavrova rounds out Nebraska's trio of Big Ten Women's Golfers to Watch with her third career appearance on the conference's list of preseason honorees. The 2022 Slovakian Women's Player of the Year, Vavrova produced a career-best 75.80 stroke average as a junior, including a career-best 216 that included a career-best final-round 66 to help the Huskers claim the 2023 Westbrook Spring Invitational championship. Vavrova has been a key element in helping Nebraska to a pair of NCAA Regional appearances in her first three seasons in Lincoln.

In addition to their success on the course, all three of Nebraska's Big Ten Women's Golfers to Watch have earned high honors in the classroom. Strand was named a WGCA Scholastic All-American in 2023, while Takahashi and Vavrova both claimed Academic All-Big Ten accolades a year ago.

Nebraska opens its fall season at the Sam Golden Invitational at the Oakmont Country Club in Corinth, Texas (Sept. 11-12).