East Lansing, Mich. – Last year, Michigan State’s women’s golf team made history by having an individual advance to play in the final round of the NCAA Championships. This year, the Spartans went one step further, with junior Katie Lu and senior Leila Raines advancing to play in the fourth round of stroke play at the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Championships, played at the La Costa Champions Course in Carlsbad, Calif.
The Spartans finished in a tie for 17th place among 30 teams on Sunday, falling just short of advancing to the final round of stroke play qualifying as a team, which was held on Monday.
Lu and Raines, however, were among the top nine individuals not on the top-15 advancing teams and advanced to play in Monday’s final round to compete for the individual championship.
After the team completed its round on Sunday afternoon, Head Coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll relayed to Raines, who led the Spartans by tying for 27th place at 3-over par 219 that she was among the group that would advance.
It wasn’t until the completion of the third round that Slobodnik-Stoll was able to tell Lu that she too had qualified and would join her teammate – and her roommate – in the final round.
“It was a pretty special day for our program to have two student-athletes representing Michigan State in the final round of the NCAA Championships,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “It was a great experience to see two of our best players, who are also roommates, get to play one final collegiate round together as teammates, it doesn’t get much better than that. We finished 17th in the nation and once again have proven that we are one of the best programs in the nation.”
Raines, who shot a 3-over par 75 in the fourth round, tied for 28th place at 6-over par 294 (71-73-75-75).
“Obviously, we wanted to have our whole team playing today, but to get to share this round of golf with Katie was something I’ll remember forever,” Raines said. “It made for a pretty special day and it was a great way to wrap up my collegiate career.”
Lu finished her day with a 6-over 78 on Monday and tied for 45th place at 10-over par 298 (73-75-72-78). This was the second-straight year that Lu advanced to the final round of stroke play as she tied for 41st place in 2023 at 3-over par 291.
“Like Leila said, we wanted to advance as a team, but it was pretty cool to be able to share…
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