NCAA Championships Start on Friday Morning for Spartans

East Lansing, Mich. –Michigan State women's golf team will be competing in the NCAA Championships for the 16th time in program history. Play begins Friday morning (May 17) for all 30 teams at the La Costa Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif.

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The Spartans will tee off on the 1st hole at 7:57 a.m. PT (10:57 a.m. ET) on the par 72, 6,297-yard course at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa, playing alongside Purdue and Baylor.

After finishing in third place at the NCAA East Lansing Regional last week, the Spartans will be making their third NCAA Championships appearance in the last four years and the 14th under Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll.

The Lineup
1. Leila Raines
2. Katie Lu
3. Paula Balanzategui
4. Brooke Biermann
5. Shannon Kennedy
ALT – Valentina Rossi

The Format
The championship will feature 54 holes of stroke play qualifying and then the top 15 teams and nine individuals (not on advancing teams) will play a final 18 holes to determine the individual champion and the top eight teams will advance to match play. On May 21 there will be 36 holes of match play and then the match play championship will take place May 22.

Starting Notes...

The Spartans are making their 16th NCAA Championships appearance and third in the last three years.
MSU finished in third place in last week's NCAA East Lansing Regional, led by senior Leila Raines, who finished in fourth place overall at 6-under par 210, a 54-hole record for a Spartan in an NCAA Regional.
Michigan State is ranked No. 30 in the country in the latest NCAA Division I Rankings.
Michigan State has posted eight top-five finishes this year, including winning the Briar's Creek Invitational in March and three runner-up finishes, first at the Mary Fossum Invitational, the Buckeye Invitational and the Big Ten Championships.
Junior Katie Lu, an All-Big Ten First Team selection, leads the team in scoring average at 71.20, which is the second-best single-season mark in MSU history, and has 11 top-20 finishes in 12 events this year, including two wins.
Raines, who was the recipient of the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, is second on the team with a 72.73 scoring average, including a 72.50 mark in the spring and has posted five-straight top-20 finishes.
Junior Brooke Biermann, who is third on the team with a 72.94 scoring average, has been MSU's top individual finisher three times season.

NCAA Championship Experience

All six players on the Michigan State roster in 2024 played in last year's NCAA Championship, including being part of the 2023 NCAA Palm Beach Regional Championship, the first in program history.
Seniors Leila Raines and Valentina Rossi have multiple years of experience in competing in the NCAA Championship, the first appearance coming with the 2021 team that won the Big Ten Championship, tied for fourth at the Louisville Regional and advanced to the NCAA Championships.
Raines played in the first round and Rossi played the final two rounds.
Raines posted a 12-over par 84 in the first round, while Rossi shot a 1-over par 73 in the second round and a 4-over par 76 in the third round.
Raines is the first player in Michigan State history to appear in FOUR NCAA Championships, having qualified as an individual in 2022 in addition to appearing with the MSU team in 2021, 2023 and this year.
Raines tied for 10th place individually at the NCAA Stillwater Regional and advanced to play in the NCAA Championships.
She tied for 93rd place with a 15-over par 231 (81-76-74).

Regional Recap

Michigan State shot a 3-under-par 285 in the third and final round of the NCAA East Lansing Regional on May 8 at Forest Akers West to finish in third place and earn a trip to the NCAA Championships.
MSU finished the 54-hole tournament at 4-under 860 (291-284-285), the lowest team score the Spartans have ever posted in an NCAA Regional.
Top-seeded USC won the regional with a 9-under-par 855 (281-289-285), followed by Oklahoma State (859), MSU (860), Northwestern (861) and Pepperdine (863). The top-five teams in the 12-team field advance to the NCAA Championships.
The Spartans started the day in fourth place and moved up one spot to third with their 3-under 285, which tied for the second-lowest team score in the third round.
Senior Leila Raines led MSU with a 6-under 210 (73-68-69), which set a 54-hole record for a Spartan in an NCAA Regional and placed her fourth on the individual leaderboard ... Raines carded five birdies to shoot a 69, a day after firing a season-best 68 in the second round.
Junior Katie Lu, a first-team All-Big Ten selection, placed 14th with an even-par 216 after shooting a 1-under 71 in the third round ... Lu also had five birdies, including a long putt on the par-5 17th hole for her fifth birdie of the day.
Junior Shannon Kennedy shot an even-par 72 in a round that included a team-best six birdies, while sophomore Paula Balanzategui carded a 1-over 73 to round out MSU's team scores in the third round ... Balanzategui tied for 20th overall at 3-over 219 (74-72-73) and junior Brooke Biermann also tied for 20th (72-71-76—219).

For the Record Book

Current Michigan State women's golfers are among the best in the program's rich history under 27th-year Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll.
Four current players – seniors Leila Raines and Valentina Rossi as well as juniors Brooke Biermann and Katie Lu – are among the top-10 all-time in career scoring average.
Biermann ranks No. 3 all-time in scoring average, while her classmate Lu is No. 4 all-time, with Raines No. 6 and Rossie No. 7.
That quartet each has a season of their college careers that rank among the top-10 all-time single season marks at Michigan State, including a pair this year.
Lu's 71.20 scoring average ranks as the second-best single-season mark in program history (behind the mark of 70.68 set by Sarah Burnham in 2017-18), while the 72.73 average carried by Raines ranks No. 10 all-time.
Last year, Rossi and Biermann finished the season No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on the team in scoring average, with both marks among the top-10 all-time.
Rossi's 72.70 average is now No. 9 all-time for a single season, while Biermann's 72.89 average ranks 11th all-time for one year.

Players Mentioned

Paula Balanzategui

Brooke Biermann

Shannon Kennedy

Katie Lu

Leila Raines

Valentina Rossi

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