MANHATTAN, Kan. - The Wildcats will matchup against conference foes for the Big 12 Champioinship at the Country Club of Lincoln in Nebraska beginning Monday, April 17. Kansas State will look to continue on their pace set by the past two tournaments in which the Cats finished near the head of each pack. The tournament gets underway with the first 18 holes teeing off at 8 a.m. on Monday. Tuesday will feature the second round also starting with an 8 a.m. teetime. The conference championship willl be awarded following the final round of play on Wednesday, April 19.

THE FIELD:  Kansas State has faced each of the Big 12 opponents at some point during the 2005-06 season and compiled a 13-23-1 (.351) record. According to the lastest golfstat.com rankings, Texas A&M has the highest rating of all conference schools, coming in at No. 12. Oklahoma State has the second-highest rating at No. 21. Four other schools are in the top 50 and include No. 29 Missouri, No. 35 Baylor, No. 43 Nebraska and No. 45 Texas. The remaining schools and ranks are as follows: No. 59 Kansas, No. 65 Oklahoma, No. 68 Kansas State, No. 81 Texas Tech, No. 88 Colorado and No. 94 Iowa State.

LAST TIME OUT:  The Wildcats combined for their third-lowest score of the year at the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic, firing 47-over par with rounds of 308-295-308911. K-State sat in 11th place after the first round, but quickly made up ground by shooting the third-lowest second round of the field and moved to fifth place where they remained at the end of 54-holes. For the first time in the spring two individual Wildcats finished in the top 20, with Michelle Regan leading the way. Regan made up ground with a personal-best 5-under 67 in the second round. The mark ties the second-lowest in K-State history. Regan fired a 7-over 223 to finish in a tie for 10th. Kali Quick tied for 14th despite an uncharacteristic finish having shot rounds of 72-72-81225, 9-over par.

BIG 12 CONFERENCE HISTORY: At last year’s conference championship the Cats found themselves in eighth place, which was an improvement from the 2004 Big 12 Championship. In 2005, the squad had rounds of 320-314-317951 to finish 51 shots behind Okahoma State who took home their fifth conference title. The top finisher for the Cats was Katy Heffel, who finished in a tie for 22nd with rounds of 78-76-80234. In 2004, K-State finished in ninth with Christine Boucher tying for seventh place with a two-round score of 148. The most success that K-State has at the Big 12 Championship was in 2003 and 2002, when the Cats finished sixth each year. Each of those years an individual Cat finished in the top 5. In 2003, Miranda Smith tied for fifth with rounds of 78-71-77226. In 2002, Christine Boucher finished one shot behind the individual champion to take second place. Boucher had rounds of 76-71-77224.

IN RECENT NEWS: The Wildcats’ play in recent tournaments has been just about their best golf on the year. Excluding their home tournament, the last three tournaments have produced the lowest rounds of the season. In October, K-State fired rounds of 301-294-298893 at the Marilynn Smith/Sunflower Invitational to mark their lowest of the fall. The squad also shot a 55-over 919 at the Tyson/Embassy Suites Invitational and a 56-over 920 at the Chip-N Club Invitational during the fall. The three lowest scores produced by the Cats this spring have bettered each of the fall marks. The lowest spring tournament was the Mountain View Collegiate in which the Cats fired rounds of 298-302-290890, 26-over par. K-State also had scores of 911 at the Susie Maxwell Berning Classic and 918 on the par-71 Dr. Donnis Thompson course. Other recent success has come against conference opponents. In the fall, K-State was 4-12-1 (.235) against Big 12 schools, while compiling a spring record of 9-11 (.450).

K-State’s Susie Maxwell Berning Classic Lineup

Name                                      Yr.     Hometown             Rnds               Avg.

Katy Heffel                               Jr.     Mesa, Ariz.                 30                  79.47

Hailey Mireles                          So.     Garden City, Kan.       30                  79.10

Kali Quick                                So.     Nampa, Idaho              30                  77.13

Michelle Regan                        So.     Prairie Village, Kan.    27                  77.33

Helene Robert                           Jr.     Lac Brome, Quebec   30                  76.67