March 21, 2006

The 2005-06 season marks the third of a four-year reclassification process to Division I for the women's golf team. The very young Bears golf squad is finishing up its final year of being an independent team before moving into the Big Sky Conference in 2006-07.

But before the Bears finish up play as an independent, they have some unfinished business, as they will host the first annual Division I Independent Championships on April 28-30 at Pelican Lakes Golf & Country Club in Windsor. The event features six other women's teams, including North Dakota State, South Dakota State, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas-Pan American, UC Davis and Utah Valley State.

"Of course it is an event we want to win," said Bears head coach Jack Maughan, who is in his 11th year as the program's head coach. "We would love to capture the championship on one of our home courses. We finished up the fall season with several solid performances and we hope that carries over to the spring."

The schedule also features several quality tournaments, including a matchup in Arizona with most of the Big Sky Conference, on March 6-8 at the Bobcat Desert Classic.

"This season we will be able to play against several of our future Big Sky Conference teams, and that should help us once we are in the conference next season," Maughan said. "Overall, I think our entire schedule has been upgraded from previous years, which we will continue to do as we get ready to be post-season eligible."

The Bears do not have a lot of upperclassmen on the squad, but the team's lone senior, Meagan Gutenkauf was been a four-year contributor for the program. A two-time Division I All-Independent selection, Gutenkauf has been second on the team in scoring in each of her first three seasons with the team but has probably been the most consistent during that time frame. She has improved her stroke average each year with the program and had a pair of top-10 finishes in the fall.

"Meagan is our leader," Maughan said. "She is a two-time all-independent selection, our lone senior and we will look to her for continued good play during her senior campaign."

Kelley Newton is one of two upperclassmen competitng for the Bears this season.

Northern Colorado's only other upperclassman who will see action this season is junior Kelley Newton. Newton made marked improvement from her freshman to sophomore season and showed continued promise in the fall when she was the team's No. 3 golfer.

A third upperclassman, junior Regina Rodriguez, a transfer from the University of Colorado, is redshirting this season and will have two years of eligibility left starting in 2006-07.

That leaves the other nine members of the squad as underclassmen, a sign that the best things are still to come for this squad over the next several seasons.

"We are building this team around youth as we look forward to being NCAA-eligible in 2007-08," Maughan said. "We still need to sign a few players the next several seasons. And our newcomers this year had a rough first semester, but we expect them to play better in the near future. We really do think with continued improvement our future looks very bright."

Among the sophomore class that numbers five, Jenny Henderson made the most impact as a freshman by leading the team in stroke average (79.4 - topping Gutenkauf by 0.1), earning Division I All-Independent and Northern Colorado Female Freshman Athlete of the Year honors. She was up-and-down in the fall but did capture the individual medalist title at the UMKC Kenneth Smith Classic. "Jenny is one of several talented young players on our team," said Maughan. "She has set herself apart in that she has been more consistent. I believe she will continue to improve and we will see lower and lower scores from her."

The sophomore class also includes Katie Avery, Kate Dobbs, Alicia Fortney and Amy Patterson. Although they saw limited action as freshmen, Avery and Dobbs have found more playing time this past fall, which bodes well for the team in the future.

Freshman Shayna Godfrey is one of four freshmen on the Bears team this season.

The Bears freshman class adds four newcomers to the program, including Katie Carson, Heather Daviner, Shayna Godfrey and Matti Nelson. Nelson and Godfrey have found immediate time in the Bears lineup, as each competed in some fall tournaments. Nelson, a native of Moorhead, Minn., earned a pair of all-state selections and qualified for the state tournament four times, finishing in the top-10 three times. Godfrey, who hails a little closer to Greeley, coming to the program from Sterling, Colo., was a four-time state qualifier and earned a pair of all-state honors as a prep golfer.

"Both Nelson and Godfrey played well for us at times this fall," Maughan said. "We just need them and all our newcomers to be more consistent because they are all good players."

Whether they capture the Division I Independent Championship this year or not, the Bears future looks bright with the Big Sky Conference on the horizon and a roster full of golfers with plenty of eligibility left.

"We have only two people competing this year who are not sophomores or younger," Maughan said. "I think everyone on our team will continue to grow and get better with more tournament competition under their belts."