Baete Headed to NCAA Regional

Kirsten Baete will represent Nebraska at the 2022 NCAA Stanford Regional in California (May 9-11). Baete, who earned an individual bid to the regional on the strength of a fourth-place finish at the 2022 Big Ten Championship, enters the postseason at No. 186 in the GolfStat individual rankings.

Baete has produced one of the best individual seasons by a Husker in school history. Her 74.00 stroke average through 30 rounds this season trails only All-American Kate Smith and Audrey Judd on NU’s single-season list. Her performance at the Big Ten Tournament earned her a spot on the Big Ten All-Championship Team and helped her secure second-team All-Big Ten honors.

It will be Baete’s second straight NCAA Regional appearance after helping the Huskers to a team berth at the 2021 NCAA Columbus Regional. She tied for 87th individually in Ohio last season.

Baete’s preparation for the regional will begin on the par-71, 6,291-yard layout at Stanford this weekend, before competition gets underway on Monday, May 9 at 10 a.m. (CT). The second round continues on Tuesday at 10 a.m. (CT), before the final round tees off on Wednesday at 10 a.m. (CT). Live scoring for the tournament will be available at GolfStat.com.

Baete faces a regional field that includes national No. 1 Stanford along with No. 12 USC, No. 14 LSU, No. 24 Texas Tech and No. 25 Kentucky, No. 36 Iowa State, No. 37 Northwestern, No. 48 Purdue, No. 51 UNLV, No. 69 Cal Poly, No. 82 Princeton and No. 184 Sacred Heart.

As a team, Nebraska finished No. 67 in the GolfStat rankings after finishing seventh at the 14-team Big Ten Championship.    

2022 NCAA Stanford Regional

Stanford, California

Stanford Golf Course – Par 71 / 6,291 Yards

Schedule

Monday, May 9 (Round 1): 10 a.m. (CT)

Tuesday, May 10 (Round 2): 10 a.m. (CT)

Wednesday, May 11 (Round 3): 10 a.m. (CT)

Live Scoring: GolfStat.com

Participating Teams (12)     

GolfStat national rankings in parentheses

Stanford (1)

USC (12)

LSU (14)

Texas Tech (24)

Kentucky (25)

Iowa State (36)

Northwestern (37)

Purdue (48)

UNLV (51)

Cal Poly (69)

Princeton (82)

Sacred Heart (184)

Participating Individuals (6) 

1. Rianna Mission, San Francisco (95)

2. Jennifer Koga, Sacramento State (170)

3. Kirsten Baete, Nebraska (186)

4. Victoria Gailey, Nevada (201)

5. Leah John, Nevada (221)

6. Siripatsorn Patchana, Grand Canyon (231)

Johnson Joins Baete at NCAA Region Before Departing Nebraska

Lisa Johnson will help Kirsten Baete complete her Husker career at the NCAA Stanford Regional, before Johnson leaves her head coaching position at Nebraska.

Johnson led the Huskers for three seasons, including a Big Ten runner-up finish and an NCAA Regional berth in 2021. All-American Kate Smith, the 2021 Big Ten Champion, helped Nebraska to its best conference finish since 1984 and its first NCAA Regional bid as a team since 2008.

Johnson’s departure at Nebraska follows the naming of her husband, John, as the Athletic Director at Portland State.

Baete Leads 2022 Huskers 

Kirsten Baete, who is completing her fifth season, owns Nebraska’s No. 1 scoring average (74.00) this season after firing a three-round total of 212 (71-73-68) at the Big Ten Championship at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh, Pa. (April 22-24).

Baete produced seven top-25 finishes in 2021-22, including her first career tournament title at the White Sands Intercollegiate in Nassau, Bahamas (Oct. 22-24). She added a fourth-place individual finish at the Big Ten Championship and earned another top-five finish with her tie for fifth at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational (Sept. 20-21).

Last season, Baete fired a final-round 70 (-2) to help the Big Red surge to a tie for second at the 2021 Big Ten Championship. She tied for 16th individually with a season-best 218. She won the Nebraska Women’s Match Play Championship to highlight a solid summer of preparation for the 2021-22 campaign.

Baete closed the 2021 fall season with the best performance of her career in winning the White Sands Intercollegiate in the Bahamas (Oct. 22-24). Baete fired a career-best 206 that included back-to-back rounds of 67 before closing with a final-round 72. She led the Huskers to a runner-up team finish that included wins over 2021 NCAA qualifiers Miami and Mercer. Not only did Baete bag her first collegiate title, she added the first Big Ten Golfer-of-the-Week award of her career (Oct. 27). 

Baete tied for 14th (219) at the Dale McNamara Invitational (Oct. 11-12) and notched back-to-back ties for 17th (Tulane Classic, Westbrook Invitational) to open the spring. She matched her career best with a second-round 66 (-6) at Tulane, before adding a 215 (-1) at Westbrook that included a final-round 68 (-4).

Sutherland Named Nebraska Head Coach

After spending a season as associate head coach, Jeanne Sutherland was named the new Nebraska Head Coach on Thursday, May 5, 2022. 

Sutherland 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).

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). 

In her head coaching career, Sutherland has guided 18 teams to NCAA Regional appearances. She has coached three individual All-Americans, five individual conference champions and three conference players of the year.