Nebraska women’s golfer Kirsten Baete captured All-Big Ten honors when the conference announced its annual awards, before she earned an individual bid to 2022 NCAA Regionals on Wednesday, April 27.
The fifth-year senior from Beatrice, Neb., made her final push for conference accolades and a berth in the NCAA Stanford Regional with her fourth-place finish at the Big Ten Championship at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh over the weekend. Baete, who fired a three-round score of 212 (-1) on the par-71, 6,045-yard layout. Her performance included a final-round 68 (-3) to help her storm to a top-five finish and a spot on the Big Ten All-Championship Team.
Her showing at the Big Ten Championship marked her third top-10 individual finish of the season, including an individual title at the White Sands Intercollegiate in the Bahamas (Oct. 22-24), when she put together a career-best 206 (-10) on the 6,415-yard, par-72 layout of the Ocean Club Golf Course. She was also named the Big Ten Golfer of the Week (Oct. 27) for her performance in the Bahamas. For the season, Baete finished with a team-leading 74.00 stroke average over 30 rounds.
Baete learned of her NCAA Regional selection during the Golf Channel’s live selection show coverage on Wednesday afternoon, just an hour after the official announcement of the All-Big Ten teams.
“We are so excited that Kirsten will get to continue her senior season at NCAA Regionals,” Nebraska Head Coach Lisa Johnson said. “She has been a great representative for Nebraska women’s golf throughout her career, culminating with an All-Big Ten season. She will be up against a great field of college golfers at Stanford, but the course will suit her strengths. She will be ready for the challenge.”
Baete owns 10 career top-25 finishes, including a tie for 16th at the 2021 Big Ten Championship when she helped the Huskers to a tie for second at the conference meet to secure an NCAA Regional bid for the team. Baete gives Nebraska an All-Big Ten golfer for the third straight season joining back-to-back honors for Kate Smith in 2020 and 2021.
An excellent performer on and off the course throughout her career, Baete was also named Nebraska’s Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner for women’s golf. She was also recently named a Nebraska Outstanding Scholar, as one of just five student-athletes across all sports who will be graduating in May with at least a 3.90 GPA over her collegiate career. She is also a three-time WGCA Scholastic All-American, a three-time Big Ten Distinguished Scholar and a three-team Academic All-Big Ten selection.
Baete will compete at the NCAA Stanford Regional on the Stanford Golf Course, May 9-11. The full teams competing at Stanford will include the Cardinal, USC, LSU, Texas Tech, Kentucky, Iowa State, Northwestern, Purdue, UNLV, Cal Poly, Princeton and Sacred Heart.
Stanford, which is the No. 1 seed at its regional, will be joined by fellow No. 1 seeds Oregon (Albuquerque Regional), South Carolina (Tallahassee Regional), Wake Forest (Franklin, Tenn., Regional), San Jose State (Ann Arbor Regional) and Oklahoma State (Stillwater Regional). The NCAA Championship will be held at the Grayhawk Golf Club in Scottsdale, Ariz., May 20-25.
2022 All-Big Ten Awards
First Team
Kornkamol Sukaree, Illinois
Crystal Wang, Illinois
Patricie Mackova, Maryland
Hailey Borja, Michigan
Ashley Lau, Michigan
Valery Plata, Michigan State
Jennifer Cai, Northwestern
Kan Bunnabodee, Purdue
Second Team
Aine Donegan, Indiana
Monet Chun, Michigan
Mikaela Schulz, Michigan
Kirsten Baete, Nebraska
Lauryn Nguyen, Northwestern
Kelly Sim, Northwestern
Aneka Seumanutafa, Ohio State
Inez Wanamarta, Purdue
Big Ten Golfer of the Year: Ashley Lau, Michigan
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Lauryn Nguyen, Northwestern
Big Ten Coach of the Year: Jan Dowling, Michigan
Sportsmanship Awards
Alise Knudson, Illinois
Mary Parsons, Indiana
Dana Lerner, Iowa
Karla Vazquez Setzer, Maryland
Ashley Kim, Michigan
Shannon Kennedy, Michigan State
Emma Carpenter, Minnesota
Kirsten Baete, Nebraska
Kelly Su, Northwestern
Alexis Phadungmartvorakul, Ohio State
Mathilde Delavallade, Penn State
Kan Bunnabodee, Purdue
Rikke Nordvik, Rutgers
Mackenzie Hahn, Wisconsin
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