Kansas State University Athletics
Kansas State University
MountainView Collegiate
Wildcats Ready for MountainView Collegiate
Mar 14, 2024 | Women's Golf
TUCSON, Ariz. – Coming off a program record 54-hole score its last time out, the Kansas State women's golf team is set to co-host the MountainView Collegiate, Friday through Sunday, held at the par-72, 6,345-yard Preserve Golf Club.
Co-hosted by Kansas State and Missouri, this is the 25th edition of the MountainView Collegiate, and the event has been held every year since 1999 with the exception of 2020 when it was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A difficult field awaits the Wildcats at the Preserve as it boasts 10 teams ranked in the top 60 of the latest NCAA Rankings, including No. 58 Kansas State. Other ranked teams in the field are No. 6 Arkansas, No. 17 Texas A&M, No. 33 Houston, No. 38 Tennessee, No. 42 South Florida, No. 44 Tulsa, No. 47 Iowa State, No. 53 Oklahoma and No. 55 Minnesota. Also competing at the Preserve are Arkansas State, Missouri, Southern Miss, TCU and UNLV.
"This week is a great opportunity for the team as this will be by far the toughest field we've seen all year and is worthy of the NCAA nationals," head coach Stew Burke said. "Our goal will remain the same, which is to put together a great plan in the practice round and three solid rounds of competition, and we'll see where that puts us on the leaderboard. We've played some very good golf this season, and this is an opportunity to see where we fall amongst the nation's elite."
The Wildcats will send six members of their squad to The Grand Canyon State in seniors Napua Glossner, Gabriela McNelly and Haley Vargas, junior Carla Bernat, sophomore Noa van Beek and freshman Julia Ballester Barrio. Five of those individuals will make the scoring lineup and the other will play solely as an individual. The exact lineup will not be determined until after Thursday's practice round.
A native of Castellon, Spain, Bernat leads the Wildcats with a 70.40 stroke average this season thanks to shooting in the 60s in three of her six rounds this spring. Bernat has four top-20 finishes in her five events this season, including a victory at the Marilynn Smith Sunflower Invitational and a tie for third place to open the spring season at the Puerto Rico Classic.
Vargas, a product of Lubbock, Texas, holds a 73.61 stroke average and is coming off a 7-under par 209 performance her last time out at the Westbrook Invitational. She finished last year's MountainView Collegiate with a pair of 70s in the final two rounds.
van Beek has been a member of the scoring lineup for each of the last three events dating back to the final tournament of the fall, and she is coming off a 3-under par 213 showing at the Westbrook Invitational. A product of Oene, Netherlands, van Beek carded an even-par 216 at last year's MountainView Collegiate. This years' event will be extra special for van Beek whose sister, Fleur, is in the field as a freshman at Missouri.
Glossner, a native of San Diego, California, is coming off a career low 54-hole score of 3-under par 213 thanks in part to a career-low tying round of 67 in the final 18 holes.
Tee times beginning at 7:45 a.m. (PT) start the first two rounds of the MountainView Collegiate on Friday and Saturday, while a shotgun start at 7:45 a.m. (PT) begins final-round play on Sunday. Live results can be followed at www.Golfstat.com.
Players Mentioned
