Huskers Hope to Build Momentum in Arizona

Fresh off a runner-up finish at the Texas Golf Throwdown, Nebraska makes a quick turnaround when the Huskers head to Arizona for the Westbrook Spring Invitational, Feb. 22-23.

The two-day, 54-hole event hosted by Wisconsin on the 6,293-yard, par-72 layout of the Vistas Course at Westbrook Village Golf Club in Peoria, Ariz., gets underway with a 9:30 a.m. (CT) shotgun start for 36 holes on Sunday, Feb. 22. The tournament concludes with a shotgun start for the final round on Monday at 9:30 a.m. (CT).

Nebraska is one of five Big Ten teams including Minnesota, Penn State, Rutgers and the hosts from Wisconsin, in a talented 15-team field. The tournament also features Georgia and Missouri from the SEC along with Arizona, Kansas and Kansas State from the Big 12. Chattanooga, Colorado State, Gonzaga, UNLV and Washington State round out a strong field.

Ailis Tribolet will play out of the top spot in the Husker lineup after posting a career-best seventh-place individual finish with a 219 (+3) to lead Nebraska at the Texas Golf Throwdown (Feb. 16-17). The freshman from Chandler, Ariz., earned her second straight top-25 finish of the spring, including her tie for 24th with a career-best 217 (+1) to open the spring season at the UCF Challenge in Orlando (Jan. 25-27).

Hannah Kono added a top-10 finish of her own by tying for eighth in Texas.The junior from Enkoping, Sweden, closed with a 221 (+5). She has been one of Nebraska’s top-four finishers in all six tournaments this season. 

Kaleigh Babineaux, who opened the spring with three consecutive rounds of even-par 72 to tie for 17th individually with a 216 at the UCF Challenge, added her fourth consecutive top-25 finish by tying for 21st in Texas. Babineaux, a freshman from Austin, Texas, managed a 227 (+11) as NU’s No. 3 finisher.

Redshirt juniors Symran Shah (Carrollton, Texas) and Lauren Thiele (Wahoo, Neb.) round out Nebraska’s lineup, while sophomore Olivia Lovegrove (Lincoln, Neb.) will compete as an individual outside the Husker lineup in Arizona.

Westbrook Spring Invitational
Peoria, Arizona (Host: Wisconsin)
Westbrook Village Golf Club
(Vistas Course - Par 72, 6,293 Yards)

Schedule
Sunday, Feb. 22 (Rounds 1 & 2) - 9:30 a.m. (CT) - Shotgun
Monday, Feb. 23 (Round 3) - 9:30 a.m. (CT) - Shotgun

Live Scoring - Scoreboard.clippd.com

Participating Teams (15) 
Arizona, Chattanooga, Colorado State, Georgia, Gonzaga, Kansas, Kansas State, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Penn State, Rutgers, UNLV, Washington State, Wisconsin

Nebraska Lineup (5-count-4)
1. Ailis Tribolet, Fr., Chandler, Arizona
2. Hannah Kono, Jr., Enkoping, Sweden
3. Kaleigh Babineaux, Fr. Austin, Texas
4. Symran Shah, RJr., Carrollton, Texas
5. Lauren Thiele, RJr., Wahoo, Nebraska
IND - Olivia Lovegrove, So., Lincoln, Nebraska

Hall Takes Reins of Husker Program as Nebraska’s Sixth Head Coach
With a proven record of helping aspiring young golfers drastically improve their games, first-year Nebraska Head Coach Breanne Hall inherits a roster filled with nine returning Huskers and one transfer who followed her from Illinois State. However, among the 12 golfers on Nebraska’s roster, nine are in either their first or second seasons as Huskers.

A three-time Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year, Hall was named the sixth head coach of the Nebraska women’s golf program on May 15, 2025 after Coach Jeanne Sutherland announced her retirement. Hall won back-to-back MVC Coach-of-the-Year honors at Illinois State in 2024 and 2025. She led the Redbirds to three NCAA Tournament appearances over the past four seasons and was also the 2022 Missouri Valley Conference Coach of the Year.

Hall’s 2025 Illinois State team won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 31 strokes before finishing 11th at the NCAA Columbus Regional. In 2024, Illinois State won the Missouri Valley Conference title by 12 strokes with Ali Schrock sharing the tournament title. The Redbirds went on to finish 12th at the NCAA East Lansing Regional.

The Redbirds earned their first conference title under Hall’s direction in 2022 and their first MVC title in a decade, edging Missouri State by one stroke and capping the year with a 12th-place finish at the NCAA Stillwater Regional.

During her time at Illinois State, Hall coached three MVC Golfers of the Year and 15 all-conference selections. Her teams produced the five best single-season scoring averages in school history over the past five years. Prior to taking over the top spot at Illinois State, Hall spent a season recruiting a roster before serving as the head coach for two seasons at UNC Asheville (2016-18). As the first head coach in history of the fledgling program, Hall led UNC Asheville to a pair of tournament titles in the first two seasons of the program’s existence. Her team posted a nine-stroke improvement in scoring average from year one to year two.

Tribolet, Kono, Babineaux Lead Huskers to Runner-Up Finish in Texas
Ailis Tribolet and Hannah Kono both earned top-10 individual finishes to lead Nebraska to its best finish of the season with a runner-up showing at the 15-team Texas Golf Throwdown.

The Huskers, who finished with a three-round total of 901 (+37) on the 6,311-yard, par-72 layout of The Woodlands Country Club, took second behind Iowa State. The Cyclones closed the tournament at 862 (-2), while fellow Big 12 school Cincinnati took third at 903 (+39). Texas State (910) and Middle Tennessee (913) rounded out the top five.

Tribolet captured seventh individually with a 54-hole total of 219 (+3), including a second-round 71 (-1) on Monday. The freshman from Chandler, Ariz., opened with a 75 (+3) and closed with a 73 (+1) in Tuesday’s final round.

Kono, a junior from Enkoping, Sweden, finished in a tie for eighth just two strokes back of Tribolet. Kono’s three-round total of 221 included an opening-round 71 (-1).

Kaleigh Babineaux gave Nebraska a third top-25 finisher, closing at 227 (+11) in a tie for 21st. The freshman carded her best round of the tournament with a second-round 73 (+1).

Husker All-American Kate Smith Competed on 2025 LPGA Tour
Former Husker Kate Smith-Stroh captured her LPGA Tour Card for the 2025 season by tying for 19th at the LPGA Q-Series Final Qualifying Stage in Mobile, Ala., Dec. 10, 2024.

Smith-Stroh, an All-American and Big Ten Champion for Nebraska as a fifth-year senior in 2021, put together five solid rounds in Alabama to finish with a total of 350 (-8) with rounds of 69-71-67-72-71 on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail - Magnolia Grove to secure a spot on the world’s premier women’s golf tour in 2025.

One of the best golfers in Nebraska history, Smith-Stroh competed on the Epson Tour (2022-24). During the 2023 season, she competed in 22 events and made 19 cuts, while recording four top-10 finishes. She tied for second at the Four Winds Invitational. She added 19 events while making 13 cuts in 2024, including two more top-10 finishes.

She was ranked 33rd in the Race for the Card entering Q-Series Final Qualifying.

Smith-Stroh earned nearly $116,000 in her first season on the LPGA Tour, including her first career top-10 finish at the Dow Championship in late June. Her tie for 10th at 265 (-15) over four rounds earned her just over $35,000. She added a tie for 18th at 276 (-12) at The Standard Portland Classic in mid-August to take home more than $25,000. She opened October with a tie for 42nd at the Lotte Championship at Hoakalei Country Club (Oct. 1-4), before closing in a tie for 65th at The ANNIKA (Nov. 10-13). Overall, she made eight cuts in 17 events.

The native of Detroit Lakes, Minn., made history at Nebraska. The two-time first-team All-Big Ten choice stormed to the Big Ten Championship with a school-record 64 (-8) in the final round at TPC River’s Bend in Maineville, Ohio. She was named a third-team All-American by Golfweek and an honorable-mention All-American by the WGCA before becoming the first Husker to compete in the Arnold Palmer Cup, helping the United States to a title. She was also the first Husker to compete in the Augusta National Women’s Amateur in 2021.

Kono Making Step Forward in Second Season as Husker
Hannah Kono produced Nebraska’s No. 2 stroke average (74.93) in her first year as a Husker in 2024-25. The transfer from Oakland University earned four top-25 finishes as a first-year Nebraska golfer, after finishing sixth at the 2024 Horizon League Championship.

Through six tournaments in her second season at Nebraska, Kono owns a 73.13 stroke average including a pair of eighth-place finishes (Ptarmigan Ram, Texas Golf Throwdown).

Kono fired a career-best 213 (-3) to lead Nebraska with a tie for 21st individually at the 2025 Westbrook Spring Invitational in Peoria, Ariz. (Feb. 23-24).Kono’s performance included career-best first and second rounds of 70 (-2) on the 6,248-yard layout of the Vistas Course at the Westbrook Village Golf Club.

Kono closed the fall of 2024 with a then-career-best 218 (+2) to finish 16th at the Hurricane Invitational in Coral Gables, Fla. The native of Enkoping, Sweden, put together consistent rounds of 73, 72 and 73 on the par-72, 6,175-yard layout at the Biltmore Golf Club to earn her best finish as a Huskers.

She opened her Husker career with a tie for 18th at the Badger Invitational with a 224.

Thiele Named 2025 Nebraska Women’s Amateur of the Year
Lauren Thiele was named the Nebraska Women’s Amateur Golfer of the Year presented by SWAG (Nov. 13, 2025).

Thiele claimed the honor on the strength of a victory at the 102nd Nebraska Women’s Match Play at Hillcrest Country Club in Lincoln (July 31). She defeated Husker teammate Brooke Bream 1 up in the final to capture the title.

Thiele, a Wahoo native, follows in the family footsteps of her older sisters, Hannah (2016) and Lindsey (2023), as a Nebraska Women’s Match Play champion. Lauren was also the Nebraska Girls Match Play Champion in 2021. Hannah was also the Nebraska Women’s Amateur Golfer of the Year in 2016.

Lauren added an eighth-place finish at the 51st Nebraska Women’s Amateur in Beatrice in June.

Huskers Participate in Folds of Honor
Nebraska women’s golf is a proud participant in the Folds of Honor program, which recognizes fallen or disabled American service members and first responders by carrying a bag tag emblazoned with the number of Folds of Honor recipients who have attended Nebraska.

To donate to the Folds of Honor program at Nebraska, visit https://foh.org/nebraskawomensgolf.