Weekly Release #1

Upcoming Schedule
Sat-Sun., Sept. 14-15 -- host Wolverine Invitational (Ann Arbor, Mich.)
Sat-Sun., Sept. 21-22 -- at Mary Fossum Invitational (East Lansing, Mich.)

Next on the Tee: The Wolverine Invitational
The University of Michigan women's golf team will open up the 2002-03 season by hosting and defending its title at the Wolverine Invitational, Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 14-15) at the U-M Golf Course in Ann Arbor, Mich. The 11-team field features teams from around the Midwest, including two Big Ten and four Mid-American Conference schools. The 54-hole tournament will be set up for a par 72 and 5,927 yards. Last year, the Wolverines' Blue team took home the team title by 38 strokes, for their second win of the fall, eventually helping the Maize and Blue go undefeated (4-0) in the during the first half of the season.

The Wolverine Invitational Field
The Wolverine Invitational features 11 teams and will include: Ball State, Bowling Green, Bradley, East Carolina, Eastern Michigan, Ferris State, Grand Valley State, Indiana, James Madison, Michigan and Ohio.

The Wolverine Invitational Schedule
The Wolverine Invitational will consist of 54 holes, 36 of which will be played on Saturday (Sept. 14) followed by 18 on Sunday (Sept. 15).

Friday, Sept. 13	Practice Round	Tee times throughout the day
Saturday, Sept. 14	First Round	9 a.m. (shotgun)
	Second Round	15 minutes following first round (shotgun)
Sunday, Sept. 15	Final Round	8 a.m. (tee times off No. 1 and No. 10)

The Wolverine Invitational Scoring Format
Scoring for the Wolverine Invitational will be six players, count the low four scores each round.

The Michigan Lineup at the Wolverine Invitational
The Wolverines will carry six players for the Michigan squad at the Wolverine Invitational. Senior Kim Benedict (Rochester, Mich./Adams HS) and sophomore Laura Olin (Eden Prairie, Minn./Eden Prairie HS) will head up the team. Fifth-year senior Stephanie Stasik (Lubbock, Texas/Coronado HS) and freshman Amy Schmucker (Cold Spring, Minn./Rocori HS), junior Sarah Kruer (La Jolla, Calif./La Jolla Country Day) and redshirt sophomore Courtney Goebel (Huntington Beach, Calif./Marina HS) round out the rest of the squad.

Last Year at the Wolverine Invitational: U-M Runs Away with Title
The Maize and Blue ran away with the team title by 38 strokes and seven Wolverines placed in the top eight of the entire tournament. The Wolverines' Blue team finished at 623 -- a Wolverine Invitational record for a 36-hole event -- after following an opening round of 318 with a 305, the second best single team round in tournament history. Eastern Michigan (336-325/661) finished second and the Michigan Maize team (337-341/678) placed third.

Misia Lemanski (1999-2002) led from start to finish and took home her first collegiate title as she won by five strokes with rounds of 75 and 77 for a six-over-par 152 total. Benedict, LeAnna Wicks (1999-2002) and Cortney Reno (1999-2002) all tied for third with 158 totals. Benedict fired rounds of 80 and 78, Wicks carded rounds of 82 and 76 and Reno shot 81-77. Bess Bowers (1999-2002) and Kruer, who played on Maize squad, tied for sixth with 160 totals. Bowers fired a second-day total of 75 -- the low round of the day -- to vault up to sixth after opening with an 85. Kruer had rounds of 79 and 81. Olin was eighth after her 82 and 79 for a 161 total.

Fall Season Has Defense on Minds
The Wolverines will drive into the 2002-03 season staying in the Midwest for a majority of the fall season. After opening the year hosting and attempting to defend their team title at the Wolverine Invitational (Sept. 14-15), the Maize and Blue will stay in Michigan, traveling to East Lansing, Mich., for the Mary Fossum Invitational (Sept. 21-22), which was cancelled last season due to the national tragedies of Sept. 11.

The Wolverines then head to Iowa City, Iowa, and look to defend their title at the Lady Northern (Sept. 28-29) at the Finkbine Golf Course, which will be the site of the 2003 Big Ten Championships. Then it is off to Franklin, Ind., where again the Wolverines will look to defend their title at the Shootout at the Legends (Oct. 7-8). The Maize and Blue then closes out the fall season with a trip to the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Collegiate in Knoxville, Tenn.

Spring Season Offers Competitive Challenges
After the two-month winter break, the Wolverines will swing back into action at the prestigious TRW Regional Challenge in Palo Verdes, Calif. The Wolverines then head to Florida for the Midwest Classic (Feb. 24-25) before heading to Austin, Texas, for the Betsy Rawls/Longhorn Invitational (March 24-26). After the west coast and southern tour, the Maize and Blue come back to Big Ten country to defend their Indiana Invitational title (April 5-6) and head to West Lafayette, Ind., for the Lady Boilermaker Invitational (April 12-13), which is the site of the 2003 NCAA Championships.

With the regular season over, the Wolverines head back to Iowa City, Iowa, for the 2003 Big Ten Championships at the Finkbine Golf Course. The Wolverines will then be looking to make their third straight NCAA Regional appearance (May 8-10). Regional sites are Central, Lincoln, Neb.; East, Winston-Salem, N.C.; West, Tempe, Ariz. The 2003 NCAA Championships (May 20-23) will be in West Lafayette, Ind., at the Kampen Course at Purdue's Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex.

Looking for Third Straight Trip
The Wolverines will be looking to make it three straight trips to an NCAA Regional. The Maize and Blue made the program's first appearance in school history in 2001 as the Wolverines finished 12th in the East Regional, which was at the Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C. However, last season the Wolverines finished sixth at the Central Regional at Forest Akers West in East Lansing, Mich., to qualify for their first appearance at the NCAA Championships.

This year, each regional will be held May 8-10 with Nebraska hosting the Central Regional at the Firethorn Golf Club (Lincoln, Neb.); Wake Forest hosting the East Regional at Salem Glen Country Club (Winston-Salem, N.C) and Arizona State hosting the West Regional at the ASU Karsten Golf Course (Tempe, Ariz.). The 2003 NCAA Championships will be played on the Kampen Course at Purdue's Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex (May 20-23) in West Lafayette, Ind.

Has It Been Four Years Already
Kim Benedict has already started a storybook career at Michigan and will look to continue that again in her final season. Benedict, a 2002 All-Big Ten first team selection, holds the school record for career scoring average (77.60) and scoring average in a season (76.48) C records she has set and broken in each of three seasons. She has two medalist honors C at the 2001 Hawkeye Invitational and the 2001 Shootout at the Legends C and five runner-up finishes. She has helped the Wolverines to nine team titles, including six last season, as well as back-to-back trips to an NCAA Regional and the program's first trip to NCAA Championships in 2002. She has played in 37 consecutive tournaments, finishing as the top Wolverine in 18 of them, with 18 top-20 finishes, 13 top-10 and 11 top-five.

Looking to Break the Jinx
With a very successful freshman season, Laura Olin will be looking to continue where she left off and break the myth of the "sophomore jinx." Olin played in all 13 tournaments last season, recording the lowest freshman scoring average in the program's history with her 76.94 average, which became just the third Wolverine in history to average below 77.00 per round. She shot a school record-tying 68 in the second round of the Hawkeye Invitational and had 24 of 38 rounds under the 80-stroke barrier.

Keeping the Shelves Stocked
Dating back to the start of the 2001 spring season, the Maize and Blue has nine team titles in its last 16 regular-season tournaments and nine in the last 21 total tournaments including postseason events. The Wolverines did not finish lower than fourth during the regular season in the 2001-02 season, winning six of 10 tournaments they entered. In the postseason, the Wolverines recorded their highest finish at the Big Ten Championships with a third-place finish. They also recorded a sixth place finish at the NCAA Central Regional and closed out the season with a 17th-place showing at the NCAA Championships.

2001-02 Season in Review
The Record-Breaking Season Just Kept Going and Going
It was one for the history books, as the 2001-02 Wolverines continued to rewrite the record books each and every week breaking records and setting new team standards. The Wolverines opened the season with the first tournament, the Mary Fossum Invitational getting cancelled due to the national tragedies of Sept. 11. After honoring those who were lost, the Wolverines rattled off four straight tournament wins completing an undefeated fall season. The Maize and Blue won titles at the Lady Northern Invitational, the Wolverine Invitational, the Shootout at the Legends and the Hatter Fall Classic.

As the spring season rolled around, the Wolverines continued to shine as they won two more tournaments C the Indiana Invitational and the Hawkeye Invitational C to give them six tournaments wins of 10 regular season events. In fact, the Wolverines did not finish lower than fourth in the regular season. The six tournament wins would double the school record for most wins in a season after the Wolverines won three tournaments during the 2000-01 and 1995-96 seasons.

Paced behind the regular season, the Maize and Blue jumped into the postseason finishing the Big Ten Championships with a third place finish - the highest recorded finish ever at the conference championships. Michigan's 1,236 four-round total ranked as the second best in Wolverine history. LeAnna Wicks' runner-up finish at Big Ten's ranked as the highest Wolverine finish ever and her 305 total tied her for the second best individual total. In addition, Laura Olin's tie for 14th at the Big Ten's was the highest finish ever by a Wolverine freshman at the conference tournament.

With a strong conference finish, the Maize and Blue had its second consecutive NCAA Regional appearance when the Wolverines competed at the Central Regional at Forest Akers West Course (May 9-11) in East Lansing, Mich. After battling the elements the first two days, the Wolverines came back firing on all cylinders in the final round, to vault themselves into a sixth place finish to qualify them for their first trip to the NCAA Championships. Michigan finished 17th at NCAA's and its 1,199 NCAA total set the U-M record for a 72-hole tournament by 17 strokes bettering the old record of 1,216 set at the 2000 Big Ten Championships. Bess Bowers' 291 NCAA total set the U-M record for a 72-hole tournament by 11 strokes, bettering the old mark of 302 set by Sharon Park (1996-99) at the 1998 Big Ten Championships.

Inside the 2001-02 Season Numbers
The Wolverines finished the 2001-02 season averaging six strokes better as a team, compared to the 2000-01 season's record-breaking season, with a 303.55 per team round compared to 309.56. Five players averaged better than the school record of 77.41 set by Kim Benedict in 2001. Benedict broke her own record and led the year with a 76.48 average, followed by Misia Lemanski (76.63), Laura Olin (76.94, which was the lowest stroke averaged by a freshman in Michigan history), LeAnna Wicks (77.00) and Bess Bowers (77.33).

Individuals Shine in Team Victories
Kim Benedict, a 2002 All-Big Ten first team selection, was also the top finishing Wolverine in six of 13 tournaments. LeAnna Wicks has led three times, Bess Bowers led twice, Laura Olin and Misia Lemanski have once. In addition to the six-team titles Lemanski was the individual medalist at the Wolverine Invitational, Benedict won the Shootout at the Legends and Wicks won the Hawkeye Invitational. Benedict was also the runner-up medalist at the Lady Northern and the Indiana Invitational, while Wicks was the runner-up at the Big Ten Championships.

Records Fall in Dream Season
Kim Benedict, LeAnna Wicks and Laura Olin all set the Michigan record for lowest single-round total as each has shot a round of 68. The three record-tying marks are just the second, third and fourth times a Wolverine golfer has broken the 70-stroke barrier. Bess Bowers hit the fifth sub-70 round with her 69 in the third round of the 2002 NCAA Championships. Cortney Reno shot the school's first sub-70 round in the third round of the 2000 Shootout of the Legends (Oct. 9-10, 2000) with a 69. The Maize and Blue's 873 total at the Lady Northern destroyed Michigan's best 54-hole tournament total mark by 16 strokes and the Wolverine's second-round team total of 287 at the Hawkeye Invitational tied the Michigan record for lowest single-round total.

Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423