Record breakers

One week after the KU women’s golf team learned that it had set a new program record by earning a spot at NCAA Regionals for the third consecutive year, the KU men’s team followed suit by setting a record of its own.

Seeded 8th at the Bremerton Regional in Washington, Jamie Bermel’s squad qualified for NCAA Regionals for a school record ninth consecutive year.

That breaks the old mark of eight straight trips to the postseason, which the KU men had done three separate times before, from 1989 to 1996, from 1998 to 2005 and from 2016 to 2024.

"Nine straight appearances is quite a feat," Bermel in a release announcing their seeding. "I don't think about it each year, as each year is different, but it says a lot about the program both past and present. When kids come here, they want to play in the postseason, and we've had a good run of luck here. Nine straight is a lot, and we are ready to go play."

Bermel has now led the Jayhawks to the postseason in nine of his 13 years in charge of the program, bringing his career total to 24 trips to NCAA Regionals in 30 seasons at four schools.

Bermel also led Colorado State to the postseason 12 times in a 13-year period from 2000 to 2012 and also took Drake to two (1996 and 1997) and Iowa State to one in 1999.

Perhaps more important than any records or past performances is the fact that this year’s Jayhawks enter the postseason playing their best golf of the season.

While their overall 10th-place finish at the recent Big 12 Championship wasn’t what they wanted, the Jayhawks played their best in the final day of that event at Southern Hills in Oklahoma. And in the events leading up to that, the Jayhawks won the Hawkeye Invitational and delivered 5th-place finishes at the three events that preceded it.

In all, KU finished in the top five at 8 of their 12 events this season.

The Jayhawks were led by veterans Gunnar Broin and Will King, who each won once this season while carding scoring averages of 70.72 and 70.96, respectively.

Broin, who made noise last summer by qualifying for the U.S. Open as an amateur, led the Jayhawks with 13 rounds in the 60s, while King won for the second time in his career and recorded three individual top-5 finishes.

Next up, the Jayhawks will head west to compete at this year’s regional, with a practice round slated for May 11 and competition running May 12-14. The top five teams at the regional will advance to the NCAA Championship slated for May 23 in Carlsbad, California.

THE FIELD

(1) Arizona State
(2) Florida
(3) Utah
(4) South Carolina
(5) South Florida
(6) Colorado
(7) Charlotte
(8) Kansas
(9) Colorado State
(10) Kansas State
(11) Elon
(12) Coastal Carolina
(13) Oral Roberts
(14) Seattle

— For tickets to all KU athletic events, visit kuathletics.com