Strand Set for NCAA Regional at Washington

Kelli Ann Strand will represent the Nebraska women’s golf program as an individual at the 2024 NCAA Cle Elum Regional hosted by the University of Washington, May 6-8.

 

Strand, a sophomore from Challis, Idaho, was one of six individuals chosen to compete alongside 12 of the nation’s top teams at the regional set for the Tumble Creek Club at the Suncadia Resort in Cle Elum, Wash.

 

Strand, who enters the NCAA Regional ranked No. 98 nationally as an individual, earned a No. 3 seed among the individuals in Cle Elum, joining No. 1 Emma Bunch (New Mexico State), No. 2 Riana Mission (San Francisco), No. 4 Morgan Miller and No. 5 Sabrina Iqbal (Colorado) and No. 6 Madelyn Gamble (Washington State).

 

Strand is scheduled to tee off all three days at 12:50 p.m. (CT) while taking on a par-72, 6,306-yard layout at the Tumble Creek Club.

 

Live scoring for the event will be available on Huskers.com from GolfStat.

 

Strand, who gives Nebraska at least one NCAA Regional competitor for the fourth consecutive year, will be part of a field that includes full teams from Stanford, Duke, Arizona State, Virginia, San Jose State, the hosts from Washington, Alabama, Virginia Tech, Kansas, Long Beach State, Sacramento State and Seattle.

 

Overall, the NCAA Regionals are filled with 72 teams with 12 teams at each of six host sites around the country, including Auburn, Ala. (Auburn), Bermuda Run, N.C. (Wake Forest), Bryan, Texas (Texas A&M), Cle Elum, Wash. (Washington), East Lansing, Mich. (Michigan State) and Las Vegas (UNLV). A total of 36 individuals, including six at each site, are also contending for spots in the NCAA Championship at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, Calif. (May 17-22).

 

 

Schedule
Monday, May 6 (Round 1) - 12:50 p.m. (CT) (Tee Times)
Tuesday, May 7 (Round 2) - 12:50 p.m. (CT) (Tee Times)
Wednesday, May 8 (Round 3) - 12:50 p.m. (CT) (Tee Times)

 

Live Scoring: GolfStat

Participating Teams (12) 
(1) Stanford, (2) Duke, (3) Arizona State, (4) Virginia, (5) San Jose State, (6) Washington, (7) Alabama, (8) Virginia Tech, (9) Kansas, (10) Long Beach State, (11) Sacramento State, (12) Seattle

Individual Competitors
1. Emma Bunch, NMSU
2. Riana Mission, San Francisco
3. Kelli Ann Strand, Nebraska
4. Morgan Miller, Colorado
5. Sabrina Iqbal, Colorado
6. Madelyn Gamble, Wash. St.

Kelli Ann Strand captured second-team All-Big Ten accolades for the second consecutive season when the conference announced its annual awards on Tuesday, April 30.

 

The sophomore from Challis, Idaho, carries a school-record 71.17 stroke average through 29 rounds heading into the NCAA Cle Elum Regional (May 6-8). She has produced eight top-25 individual finishes on the season, including four top-10 showings.

 

Strand, who was a two-time Big Ten Golfer of the Week in 2023-24, tied for 40th at the 2024 Big Ten Championship after tying for 20th as a freshman at the 2023 conference tournament. She also tied for 30th at the 2023 NCAA Raleigh Regional after leading Nebraska to a team appearance a year ago.

 

Strand earned second-team All-Big Ten honors in 2023 after posting a then-school-record 72.05 stroke average for the Huskers. She won the first tournament of her college career with a victory at the 2022 Green Wave Classic in New Orleans with 54-hole school-record 202 (-14) that included a Nebraska freshman record round of 65 (-7).

 

Kelli Ann Strand’s NCAA Cle Elum Regional bid marked the fourth consecutive year that the Nebraska women’s golf program has had at least one representative in NCAA Regional competition.

 

Last season, Strand led Nebraska to a team appearance at the 2023 NCAA Raleigh Regional, which marked 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. In 2022, Kirsten Baete represented Nebraska at the NCAA Stanford Regional (May 9-11). Baete tied for 30th with a three-round total of 220 (75-76-69), matching Nevada’s Victoria Gailey for the top individual finish at the regional.

 

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).

 

Nebraska Head Coach Jeanne Sutherland has helped at least one Husker golfer to an NCAA Regional appearance in all three of her seasons at Nebraska, including the past two seasons as head coach. 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). She has led 19 teams to NCAA Regional qualification.

 

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 earned her second consecutive All-Big Ten award after posting a team-best 71.17 stroke average over 29 rounds in 2023-24.

 

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).

 

Strand owns 17 career top-25 finishes, including 10 top-10 showings after a tie for ninth at the Florida State Match Up (March 15-16). She took fifth 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 produced a 73.91 stroke average over 32 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 led Nebraska with her tie for 28th at the 2024 Big Ten Championship. The senior from Bojnice, Slovakia, posted a three-round total of 220 (+4) with solid rounds of 74, 73 and 73 at the Bulle Rock Golf Course in Havre de Grace, Md. (April 19-21).

 

Vavrova was also 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).

 

She 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 was also honored as Nebraska’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner at the conclusion of her senior season.

 

She 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 (pronounced TEEL) earned a prestigious Nebraska Athletics Heart & Soul Award as one of the most committed student-athletes to NU’s award-winning Life Skills program. The award was announced at the annual “Night at the Lied” award ceremony on April 28.

 

Thiele, who is the most recent of three sisters (Haley, Hannah) to play golf for the Big Red, participated in the 2023 Nebraska Life Skills No Filter Service Trip Abroad to Panama and was a winner of a Sam Foltz 27 Hero Leadership Award in 2022. 

 

The Regents Scholar at Nebraska is also 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 finished her fourth season as a Husker with a 74.04 stroke average over 23 rounds. She tied for seventh at the Spartan Sun Coast Invitational and closed the year with a tie for 55th at the Big Ten Championship.

 

Nebraska leads NCAA Division I with 354 College Sports Communicators Academic All-Americans all-time across all sports. The Huskers also lead all schools in history with 18 NCAA Top 10 Award winners across all sports. 

 

Nebraska women’s golf leads the nation with 94 WGCA Scholastic All-Americans since 1989, including four in 2022-23. Megan Whittaker, Lindsey Thiele, Kelli Ann Strand and Andrea Velez all earned WGCA honors. 

 

Whittaker became NU’s first five-time WGCA Scholastic All-American. Thiele, who earned her third WGCA honor, joins her older sisters Haley (2016, 2018, 2019) and Hannah (2018) as WGCA Scholastic All-America Huskers.

 

Husker women’s golf owns a 100 percent  graduation success rate.