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2 0 0 7 - 0 8 M i c h i g a n S t a t e W o m e n ’ s G o l f 2006-07 Season in Review 8 NCAA C hampionships App earances • 9 NCAA Regional App earances Junior Sara Brown earned Golfweek Player of the Week honors after winning the Landfall Tradition. Senior Mandi McConnell finished in the top 10 at four events, including a third-place finish at the Big Tens. Senior Heather Rose finished in the top five at two tournaments and finished tied for 50th at the NCAA Championships. Red, White, And Blue (And Brown) Junior Sara Brown helped the United States capture the team championship at the 11th World University Games. Finishing fifth overall with a five-overpar 293, Brown recorded the second-best score for the American squad. Brown is just the fifth Spartan ever to compete in the elite world event, and only the second to collect a team championship. The four-day event, held in Tornio, Italy, Sept. 6-9, was a three-person format, using the top two of three scores. Recording rounds of 71, 77, 71 and 74, Brown’s scores were used on all but the second day. The US won the team title with a score of 579, followed by Japan at 581 and Russia with a 590. A total of 14 countries participated in the games. What A (Golf)Week Junior Sara Brown was named the Golfweek Player of the Week after winning her first collegiate tournament, the Landfall Tradition on Oct. 29. The only player to score under par, Brown shot rounds of 74-69-72 for a 1-under 215 to win by four strokes. Her score tied the third-best 54-hole score in school history and her second-round 69 was a career best. It was also the first time an MSU women’s golfer had claimed medalist honors since Allison Fouch won back-to-back tournaments in 2003. Hooters Match Play Upstarts The 19th-ranked Spartans shocked many at the Hooters Match Play Championships with their fourth-place finish, as MSU managed 3-2 wins over 13th-ranked Arizona and sixth-ranked Auburn to reach the semifinals. MSU then fell to third-ranked Duke, 3-2, with the deciding match coming down to 20 holes, with freshman Laura Kueny falling to Anna Grzebien. Sara Brown beat three players ranked in the top 50, including Duke’s fourth-ranked Jennie Lee, 6 and 5. The team then lost 1-3-1 to top-ranked Georgia, with senior Heather Rose halving second-ranked Taylor Leon. In The Fall MSU completed its five-tournament fall schedule ranked No. 19 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings, recording four top-five finishes and a win at the Lady Northern Invitational. The Spartans posted seven wins against Top-25 opponents and a 15-3-1 record against Big Ten teams. McConnell’s Mark After a rough start to her second tournament of the spring semester, Mandi McConnell made a late charge from 29th to sixth place at the Central District Invitational on Feb. 20, by tying a school record for a single round, firing a 68 in the third round. She is one of just three players in school history to shoot a 68 in a round, tying the mark set by both Allison Fouch on Feb. 13, 2002, and Kasey Gant on Oct. 12, 1998. McConnell notched six birdies in her record-tying round. High Mark For Holly Sophomore Holly Niederkohr posted her first career top-10 finish as she tied for ninth at the Lady Buckeye Invitational April 21-22. Niederkohr finished 15-over-par at 231 (75-79-77) during the threeround tournament. The Marysville, Ohio, native has shrugged off a tough start to the spring season by finishing in the top 20 in three of her last six tournaments. Meikle Makes Her Move After finishing the fall averaging 81.6 strokes per round, senior Rachel Meikle has had quite the resurgance for the Spartans en route to a Second-Team All-Big Ten selection. Reentering a starting lineup that she was replaced in for two tournaments in the fall, Meikle has posted five top-20 finishes in seven spring starts. She posted three consecutive top-10 finishes, tying for second at the Indiana Invitational on April 9-10, tying for fourth at the Lady Buckeye Invitational on April 21-22, and winning the Big Ten Championships on April 27-29. Her 74.7 stroke average in the spring is the lowest on the team. Bunched Together In the Spartans’ eight spring tournaments, the team placed four golfers in the top 20 five times. The team placed four golfers in the top 10 at the Lady Buckeye Invitational on April 21-22, as seniors Rachel Meikle and Mandi McConnell finished tied for fourth, junior Sara Brown finished seventh and sophomore Holly Niederkohr finished tied for ninth. Michigan State also had four players in the top 20 at the Indiana Invitational, the Lady Gator Invitational, the Central District Invitational and the Big Ten Championships. Big Ten Champions Fifth-year senior Rachel Meikle paced Michigan State to its first Big Ten title since 2001 thanks to a Big Ten Championship-record 4-under-par 284 (71- 69-73-71). Along the way, the medallist posted three under-par rounds in the four-round event and led the Spartans to a 13-stroke win over Purdue. The win was Michigan State’s first title since 2001 and the third since the Big Ten incorporated women’s athletics in 1982 (1982, 2001, 2007); Meikle’s individual title was the first for Michigan State since Emily Bastel earned medallist honors in 2000. Senior Mandi McConnell finished in third place at 6-over-par with a 294 (74-75-72-73) and junior Sara Brown took sixth with a 15-over-par 303 (77-77-71- 78). Meikle Rakes In The Awards Senior Rachel Meikle earned Golfweek.com and Golf World Player of the Week honors for the week of April 29 after her record-setting performance at the Big Ten Championships. It was MSU’s second Player of the Week honor of the season from Golfweek.com. Meikle, who was eliminated three times in 2006-07 during qualifying within the team to go to a tournament, posted a Big Ten Championships-record 4-under-par 284 (71-69-73-71) during the tournament from April 27-29, leading the Spartans to their first team championship since 2000. The Spartan senior posted three under-par rounds on MSU’s home course, Forest Akers West Golf Course. She set a Michigan State 72-hole tournament record with her 284, obliterating the previous mark of 288, set by Emily Bastel when she won the Big Ten Championships in 2000. Meikle also owns the MSU 54-hole tournament score record, as she posted a 6-under-par 210 at the Northwestern Invitational in 2006. The win was the first in Meikle’s collegiate career, as the senior had finished as a runner-up twice, including at the Indiana Invitational on April 9-10. She had finished in the top 20 at the Big Ten Championships twice, taking 18th as a sophomore and 14th as a freshman. 16 M i c h i g a n S t a t e S p a r t a n s • w w w . m s u s p a r t a n s . c o m
2 0 0 7 - 0 8 M i c h i g a n S t a t e W o m e n ’ s G o l f 2006-07 Season in Review All-Conference Honors Four members of the Michigan State women’s golf team were honored by the Big Ten Conference after the Big Ten Championships concluded on April 29. Junior Sara Brown earned her second straight First Team All-Big Ten honors and seniors Rachel Meikle and Mandi McConnell notched Second Team All-Big Ten awards at the ceremony. Senior Kristen Polanski was the Big Ten Conference’s Sportsmanship Honoree from Michigan State. Brown earned her second straight First Team All- Big Ten honors, thanks to her 74.75 scoring average. In 12 events, the junior has posted three top-five finishes (including winning the Landfall Tradition), six top-10 finishes, (including finishing sixth at the Big Ten Championships), and nine top-20 finishes. Meikle earned her first career All-Big Ten honors, thanks to an amazing spring season that saw her finish in the top five three times and in the top 20 five times. McConnell earned her first career All-Big Ten honors on the heels of her highest two career finishes, as she took fourth at the Lady Buckeye Invitational before finishing third at the Big Tens. Polanski, who earned the Presidents Award, which is given to the graduating male and female athlete at MSU with the highest GPA, posted a 79.89 scoring average in three tournaments. Polanski carried a 3.97015 grade point average as a finance major and finished a season-high 36th at the Wolverine Invitational. Spartans Take Eighth At Regionals Back-to-back birdies on the par-4, 357-yard No. 17 by junior Sara Brown and senior Rachel Meikle helped the Spartans clinch the school’s eighth bid to the NCAA Championships with an eighth-place finish in the NCAA Central Regionals at the University of Michigan Golf Course. The Spartans finished with a three-day score of 49-over-par 901 (295-295-311), five strokes ahead of ninth-place finisher Arkansas. The Spartans entered the final round in seventhplace, two strokes ahead of both Arkansas and Arizona. Arizona fired a final round 293 to jump to fifth place while Arkansas finished the final round with a 30-over-par 314, three strokes behind the Spartans’ final round 311. At The NCAAs Seniors Mandi McConnell, Rachel Meikle and Heather Rose all finished within the top 50 at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships, as the team finished the four-round tournament in 16th place at the LPGA International Legends Course. The 16th-place finish is tied for the second-best finish in the team’s eight trips to the championships, as it also finished 16th in 1984. The Spartans finished tied for 12th in 2001. Michigan State finished with a four-day total of 1,232 (310-307-312-303), but its 15-over-par final round helped it break a tie for 16th place with 18thranked North Carolina. The Spartans finished ahead of four other schools in the nation’s top 20, including 13th-ranked Tennesee (T-17th), 16th-ranked Brigham Young (T-17th), 19th-ranked New Mexico (22nd) and 20th-ranked Denver (20th). Duke wrapped up its third straight NCAA Championship with an 18-overpar performance during the tournament. McConnell finished in a tie for 30th to lead the Spartans while Meikle tied for 40th and Rose tied for 50th. The trio is the first in school history to record three top-50 finishes at the NCAA Championships. A Proper Send Off The NCAA Championships marked the ends of the careers of three of the greatest Spartan golfers in school history. Not only did all three finish in the top 50 at the NCAA’s, but all three finished their careers in the top 10 in MSU’s career stroke average. Mandi Mc- Connell enters the championships with a 76.84 career stroke average, the fifth-lowest in school history, while Rachel Meikle’s 77.21 career scoring average is seventh in school history. Heather Rose finished her career having participated in a school record for rounds played with 148. Rose’s 77.33 career scoring average is eighth in the record book. Senior Rachel Meikle set the Big Ten Championships record with a 4-under-par 287 at Forest Akers. Sophomore Holly Niederkohr finished in the top 20 at three events in the spring. Head coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll accepted her second Big Ten Coach of the Year after the Big Ten Championships at Forest Akers West Golf Course. 8 Big Ten C hampionships • 34 All-Big Ten S elections M i c h i g a n S t a t e S p a r t a n s • w w w . m s u s p a r t a n s . c o m 17
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