University of Minnesota Athletics
WOMEN'S GOLF TEAM TRAVELS TO BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP
4/25/2000 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP - The 72-hole conference championship will be played on the par-72, 5,962-yard University of Wisconsin Golf Course. Friday's competition is 36 holes beginning at 8 a.m., followed by 18 holes on both Saturday (9 a.m.) and Sunday (8 a.m.).
MINNESOTA INDIVIDUALS AT THE BIG TEN CHAMPIONSHIP - Minnesota fields a young team in 2000, with only two players having conference championship experience. Juniors Katie Bakken and Jenny Bruun competed at the Big Ten Championships a year ago. Their results: Bakken 88-83-85-81-337 tie-49th Bruun 84-86-84-85-339 tie-51st
LAST YEAR'S CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP - At Purdue, Ohio State won the 1999 conference title with a four-round total of 1239. Indiana's Erin Carney was the individual medalist at 301. Minnesota finished eighth with a four- round total of 1289. Former Gopher Melanie Lepp placed fifth at 308.
MINNESOTA'S BIG TEN HISTORY - Minnesota won the team title in 1989. The Gophers placed second four times and third four times. Minnesota has placed among the top half of the conference in 11 of the 18 Big Ten championships.
Former Golden Gopher Kate Hughes won back-to-back titles in 1989 and 1990.
REWIND: GOPHERS SIXTH AT LADY BUCKEYE INVITATIONAL -Minnesota placed sixth with a three-round total of 969 at the Lady Buckeye Spring Invitational in Columbus, Ohio. The Golden Gophers moved up three places in Sunday's final round, passing Notre Dame, Ohio University and Wisconsin with a third-round total of 320.
Sophomore Megan Stier (Belle Plaine, Minn./Bell Plaine) and newcomer Karyn Stordahl (Owatonna, Minn./ Owatonna) tied for 28th at 242 to lead the team. Junior Katie Bakken (Brooklyn Center, Minn./Brooklyn Center) was 38th at 246, while junior Jenny Bruun (Crookston, Minn./Crookston) was 52nd at 252. Other Gopher finishers were newcomer Kirstin Whalen (Elk River, Minn./Elk River), 63rd at 255, and sophomore Cindy Cannon (Big Lake, Minn./Monticello), 66th at 256.
Host Ohio State won the tournament with a total of 929, six strokes ahead of Michigan State. Kasey Gant of Michigan State won the individual title by one stroke at 227.
BAKKEN LEADING IN THE SPRING SEASON - Junior Katie Bakken has been Minnesota's top finisher in the first four spring tournaments. She won the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational on March 14, finishing with a two-round total of 147, including a 2-under-par 70 in the first round. It was her first career victory. She finished fourth at the Indiana Invitational on April 9. Bakken also placed eighth at the Midwest Classic in Dallas on Feb. 27 and tied for 14th at the University of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Invitational.
