Huskers Close Spring Break at Florida State

 

The Nebraska women’s golf team wraps up a busy week of Spring Break by competing in the Florida State Match Up in Tallahassee, March 15-16.

 

The Huskers will take on a talented 14-team field on a par-72, 6,250-yard layout at the Seminole Legacy Golf Club. The two-day tournament begins with the opening round on Friday, March 15, with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. (CT), with the second round to follow in continuous play. The final round begins Saturday at 8 a.m. (CT). 

 

Live scoring for the Florida State Match Up will be available on Huskers.com from GolfStat.

 

The field features 13 top-100 teams in NCAA Division I, led by No. 19 Duke, the hosts from No. 20 Florida State, No. 23 SMU and No. 25 Georgia, along with three other top-40 schools in No. 35 Alabama, No. 37 Kansas and No. 39 Ohio State. No. 56 Baylor, No. 69 Nebraska, No. 73 Indiana, No. 91 Coastal Carolina, No. 94 Campbell and No. 100 Delaware join NJCAA Division I No. 1 Daytona State in completing the loaded field.

 

Kelli Ann Strand, who opened the week by producing her seventh top-20 finish of the season with a tie for 11th at the Briar’s Creek Invitational in South Carolina, leads the Huskers to Florida. Strand, who owns a trio of top-10 finishes on the year and is ranked No. 107 nationally, owns a team-best 70.78 stroke average on the year. Strand, who opened the spring by tying for sixth at 210 (-6) at the UCF Challenge (Feb. 3-5), was the Big Ten Golfer of the Week (Feb. 7).

 

Miu Takahashi, who has tied for 29th in back-to-back tournaments, will play out of the No. 2 spot in the Husker lineup at Florida State. The junior from Nasu-Machi, Japan, has joined Strand in the Husker lineup for all 23 rounds this season and carries a 73.48 stroke average.  Takahashi was the first international golfer in history to be named the Nebraska Amateur of the Year in November of 2023.

 

Seniors Lindsey Thiele (Wahoo, Neb.) and Michaela Vavrova (Bojnice, Slovakia) will play out of the No. 3 and No. 4 spots respectively at Florida State after tying for 67th at the Briar’s Creek Invitational. Thiele tied for seventh with a two-round total of 143 (-1) at the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational in Sarasota (Feb. 18-19). She ranks third among the Huskers with a 73.57 stroke average on the season, just ahead of Vavrova’s 74.05 average on the year.https://results.golfstat.com//public/leaderboards/gsnav.cfm?pg=participants&tid=28573

 

Arden Louchheim will compete out of the No. 5 spot in the lineup in Florida. The freshman from Park City, Utah, produced a career-best 214 (-2) to tie for 40th at the Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 25-26).

 

 

Friday, March 15 (Rounds 1 & 2) - 8 a.m. (CT) (Tee Times)
Saturday, March 16 (Round 3) - 8 a.m. (CT) (Tee Times)

 

Participating Teams (14)
(National Ranking in parentheses)
Alabama (35)
Baylor (56)
Campbell (94)
Coastal Carolina (91)
Daytona State (1-NJCAA)
Delaware (100)
Duke (19)
Florida State (20)
Georgia (25)
Indiana (73)
Kansas (37)
Nebraska (69)
Ohio State (39)
SMU (23)

Nebraska Lineup
1. Kelli Ann Strand, So., Challis, Idaho
2. Miu Takahashi, Jr., Nasu-Machi, Japan
3. Lindsey Thiele, Sr., Wahoo, Nebraska
4. Michaela Vavrova, Sr., Bojnice, Slovakia
5. Arden Louchheim, Fr., Park City, Utah
IND: Brooke Bream, RSo., Phoenix, Arizona

Nebraska earned its second NCAA Regional appearance in a three-year span when the Huskers were selected to compete at the 2023 NCAA Raleigh Regional. It was Nebraska’s 13th all-time NCAA Regional berth dating back to the 1994 NCAA West Regional.

 

The Huskers, who finished ninth at the 12-team NCAA Raleigh Regional, also competed at the 2021 NCAA Columbus Regional, tying for 15th in an 18-team field in Ohio.

 

The Huskers made regional appearances in 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2021.

 

Nebraska’s highest regional finish came with a fifth-place finish in a 21-team field at the 2003 NCAA Central Regional at Firethorn Golf Club in Lincoln (May 8-10). The Huskers advanced to NCAA Championship appearances in 2000 (19th), 2003 (22nd) and 2006 (20th).

 

In her second season as Nebraska’s head coach, Jeanne Sutherland is in pursuit of her 20th NCAA Regional appearance in 2024. Sutherland, who spent one season as Nebraska’s associate head coach (2021-22), was named head coach on May 5, 2022. She came to Nebraska after spending 10 seasons (2011-21) as the head coach at SMU. She previously spent 15 seasons as the head coach at Texas A&M (1992-2007).

 

Sutherland has coached three All-Americans, five individual conference champions and three conference players of the year.

 

In 2018, Sutherland was named the inaugural winner of the WGCA Kim Evans Award. She also earned the WGCA Founders Award in 2017. A four-time conference coach of the year at Texas A&M (3 Big 12, 1 Southwest Conference), Sutherland was also a two-time NCAA Regional Coach of the Year (1997, 2007). She led 13 Texas A&M teams to NCAA Regional play, including four NCAA Championship appearances in 1997 (17th), 2004 (24th), 2005 (22nd) and 2006 (19th). 

 

Sutherland coached SMU to five straight NCAA bids (2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017).

 

Kelli Ann Strand captured All-Big Ten honors as a true freshman in 2022-23.

 

Strand was one of eight second-team All-Big Ten choices for 2023, while the conference also announced eight first-team honorees.

She capped one of the best seasons in school history by tying for 30th at the NCAA Raleigh Regional, after tying for 20th at her first Big Ten Championship. Strand set a school record with a 72.05 stroke average on her way to final top 115 national rankings by both Golfweek and GolfStat.

 

Strand has continued to play outstanding golf, leading Nebraska with a 70.78 stroke average over 23 rounds that puts her on school-record pace for the season. Strand produced a runner-up finish with a 206 (-10) at the Dale McNamara Invitational (Oct. 9-10). With rounds of 70-66-70, Strand earned Big Ten Golfer-of-the-Week honors (Oct. 11). She added another Big Ten weekly honor (Feb. 7) after a tie for sixth with a 210 (-6) to open the spring at the UCF Challenge (Feb. 3-5).

 

The sophomore from Challis, Idaho owns 16 career top-25 finishes, including nine top-10 showings after a fifth-place finish with a season-best 204 (-12) at the 2024 Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 25-26). 

 

She claimed an individual title in her collegiate debut at the Green Wave Classic in New Orleans (Sept. 12-13, 2022). Strand tied the school record with a 54-hole score of 202 (-14) at Tulane. She also set the Husker freshman record with a second-round 65 (-7) at the Bayou Oaks South Course. 

 

Strand fired a 29 (-7) over the back nine in the second round before opening the third round with a 31 (-5) on the front nine, carding a 60 (-12) over those consecutive 18 holes splitting two rounds. The NCAA record for best round of women’s golf is 61. Strand also was named the Big Ten Golfer of the Week (Sept. 15, 2022).

 

Strand, who earned her second straight Idaho Golf Association Women’s Player of the Year award in December of 2022, won the Idaho Women’s Match Play title. She added a runner-up finish at the Idaho Women’s Amateur. 

 

During the summer of 2023, Strand qualified for the U.S. Women’s Amateur Championship. She also advanced to the round of 32 in match play at the Women’s Western Amateur.

 

Miu Takahashi was named the 2023 state Women’s Amateur of the Year by the Nebraska Golf Association. The junior from Nasu-Machi, Japan is the first-ever international winner of Nebraska’s top female amateur award, which dates back to 1997. She claimed the honor after winning the 49th Nebraska Women’s Amateur Championship. She was the first international player to ever win the tournament, dating back to its inception in 1975.

 

Takahashi also qualified for the 123rd U.S. Women’s Amateur by claiming a spot in Dallas, Texas. She fired rounds of 78 and 73 at the U.S. Amateur in Los Angeles. 

 

Takahashi owns a 73.48 stroke average over 23 rounds for the Huskers in 2023-24, including a career-best 211 (-5) to tie for 29th at the Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 25-26).

 

As a sophomore, she was a key to Nebraska’s run to a 2023 NCAA Regional berth, setting the NU sophomore record with a 73.49 stroke average. Her 2022-23 season included an individual title with a season-best 213 (-3) at the Dale McNamara Invitational (Oct. 10-11, 2022). She was named the Big Ten Golfer of the Week (Oct. 12, 2022). 

 

Michaela Vavrova was Nebraska’s top finisher at its first two tournaments of the fall and played out of the No. 1 spot in the lineup at the Dale McNamara Invitational (Oct. 9-10).

 

The senior from Bojnice, Slovakia led the Huskers with a career-best 205 (-11) to tie for fifth individually at the Sam Golden Invitational (Sept. 11-12). She fired rounds of 69-68-68 on the par-72, 6,413-yard layout of the Oakmont Country Club in Corinth, Texas, to earn Big Ten Golfer-of-the-Week honors for the second time in her career on Sept. 13.

 

Vavrova added a 223 (72-77-74) to help NU tie for sixth in a loaded 15-team field at the Mary Fossum Invitational in East Lansing, Mich. (Sept. 17-18). She finished the fall with a career-best 72.92 stroke average over 12 rounds.

 

Vavrova overcame an up-and-down junior season to help the Huskers advance to the NCAA Raleigh Regional.

 

The 2022 and 2023 Slovakian Player of the Year, Vavrova has been a key to Nebraska’s success, including her tie for 17th at the 2022 Big Ten Championship. She owns a pair of top-50 NCAA Regional finishes.

 

Vavrova finished second at the 2022 Slovak Amateur Championship and 12th at the AMUNDI Czech Ladies Challenge. She also represented Slovakia at the 2022 World University Golf Championships in Turin, leading Slovakia to a ninth-place finish.

 

Vavrova won her first title with a then-career-best 217 (+1) at the Stampede at The Creek in Elkhorn, Neb. (Oct. 4-5, 2021). She was named the Big Ten Co-Golfer of the Week (Oct. 6).

 

Lindsey Thiele earned her first top-10 finish of the season by tying for seventh (143, -1) at the rain-shortened Spartan Sun Coast Invitational in Sarasota, Fla. (Feb. 18-19). 

 

She added a strong showing with a season-best three-round score of 212 (-4) to tie for 32nd at the Westbrook Spring Invitational (Feb. 25-26).

She ranks third among the Huskers with a 73.57 stroke average on the season.

 

Thiele (pronounced TEEL)  was Nebraska’s No. 2 finisher at the 2023 Big Ten Championship, tying for 34th (228), helping NU secure a bid to the 2023 NCAA Raleigh Regional.

 

Thiele finished with a career-best 74.88 stroke average while competing in all 38.5 rounds. She notched a pair of top-25 finishes, including a tie for eighth at the Green Wave Classic to open the season (Sept. 12-13, 2022). 

 

The most recent of three sisters (Haley, Hannah) to play golf for the Big Red, Thiele is an outstanding student and leader in community service. The Regents Scholar at Nebraska is a three-time WGCA Scholastic All-American and a two-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar. She was also a College Sports Communicators Academic All-District VII selection in 2023.

 

Thiele participated alongside teammate Megan Whittaker in the 2023 Nebraska Life Skills No Filter Service Trip Abroad to Panama.