The UNK golf team closed the season on Thursday with an appearance at the NCAA Division II Championships at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The Lopers returned to the national stage for the second time in school history, competing in a pool of 18 teams during the three-day, 54-hole tournament.
Freshman Pella Broms said the national tournament was the team’s end goal throughout the entire season.
“I feel like that helped us throughout conference and regionals to just be like, ‘This is our goal,’” Broms said. “It was just cool to see that we were able to do it, just being a smaller school from Nebraska and usually everyone forgets that we’re like even playing the tournaments.”
The top eight teams advanced and played for the team title on Friday and Saturday. The Lopers finished in 18th place (324-331-329–984).
Broms said that coach Shawn Rodehorst emphasized responding over reacting going into the tournament, which helped the team stay consistent throughout the three rounds of play and handle the adversity of a more difficult course.
Broms and junior Liz Lyons led the way for the Lopers during all three days of play.
Lyons was steady all three rounds and finished tied for 63rd at 22-over-par (80-79-79–238). She rounds out the season after placing second at conference and in the top ten at regionals.
“The golf course was very challenging,” Lyons said. “I had a rough start the first few days, and I kind of was able to level out on my last stretch of holes. I was just really trying to stay in that competitive mindset and not think about the mistakes that I made previously in the round, but stay focused on the holes that I have ahead.”
Broms led the way for the Lopers in 60th with a 21-over-par (77-79-81–237) after suffering a torn ACL in the fall. After undergoing surgery, she was able to return to the course in March and compete through the postseason.
Lyons said the team battled through rain delays and several unknowns throughout the three days of play.
“I think that’s really hard in golf because it’s a lot of mental resets and mental shifts,” Lyons said. We would just talk about the holes we had coming up and try to stay as focused as we could in the moment, but it was definitely challenging to have delays that pause us playing and then have to go back out like two hours later.”
Seniors Emmie Rhude and Beth Grant played their final collegiate rounds on Thursday.
“Emmie and Beth have had a very big impact on our team, and I think it was just really special that our last tournament, all competing together, was at the national tournament and in Florida,” Lyons said.
Broms and Lyons will return to UNK next year alongside fellow national qualifiers Calie Dockter and Claire Berquist.
“Our team next year is going to be either just as good or even better with some of the freshmen we have coming in, so we’re kind of just focused on having fun at nationals and then continuing the momentum going into the fall,” Berquist said after UNK’s runner-up finish at regionals.
The Lopers finished the season as national qualifiers, Central Region runners-up and MIAA tournament champions with four regular season tournament wins.
“We obviously wanted to do well, but we were just really there to enjoy the moment, enjoy the experience, take it in and be proud of the fact that we had made it so far,” Lyons said.
