2021 NGA Junior All-Star Team Announced
Atkinson, Hanna Headline All-Stars
OMAHA (November 1, 2021) - Ten juniors have been selected to the Nebraska Golf Association’s 2021 Junior All-Star Team, including team captains Christopher Atkinson and Kaitlyn Hanna of Omaha.
Members were selected based upon their performance in state and/or national tournaments and select team events this past season. In addition, other criteria considered include a player’s integrity and conduct both on and off the golf course.
Members of the 2021 team include:
| Christopher Atkinson, Omaha* | Kaitlyn Hanna, Omaha* |
| Jake Boor, Omaha | Nicole Kolbas, Lincoln |
| Luke Gutschewski, Elkhorn | Katie Ruge, Omaha |
| Brayden Schram, Hastings | Sydney Taake, Papillion |
| Connor Steichen, Omaha | Lauren Thiele, Wahoo |
* Team captains
Atkinson and Hanna are both on the team for a second time. Atkinson, who now plays for the University of Nebraska-Omaha after graduating from Gretna High School, was on last year’s team and returns after winning the 2021 Nebraska Junior Match Play Championship. Hanna, an Omaha Westside senior and a University of Iowa commit, was on the 2019 team.
Three players achieved a third all-star selection, including Wahoo’s Lauren Thiele, Lincoln’s Nicole Kolbas and Elkhorn’s Luke Gutschewski. Gutschewski’s selection ties him with three others for the second-most all-time on the boys’ side, one shy of the record. The Mount Michael graduate now plays for Iowa State.
Thiele, the 2021 Nebraska Girls’ Match Play Champion, and Kolbas, the 2021 Nebraska Girls’ Amateur Champion, join a group of nine other players who have earned at least three selections on the girls’ side. Thiele, a senior at Bishop Neumann and a Wichita State commit, will have a chance to move within one of the record next year, which is held by her older sisters Hannah and Haley, along with Doniphan’s Danielle Lemek. Kolbas, a junior at Lincoln Pius X, has two more summers of eligibility, and could tie that record.
Omaha’s Katie Ruge and Papillion’s Sydney Taake are also returning members from last year’s team. Ruge, a senior at Millard North, is committed to play golf at Kansas next year, while Taake, a graduate of Papillion-La Vista, now plays for the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Three players on the boys’ side are first-time all-stars, including Omaha’s Jake Boor, Hastings’ Brayden Schram and Omaha’s Connor Steichen. Boor is a Creighton Prep graduate who now plays for Creighton University, while Schram is a senior at Hastings High School, and Steichen, the 2021 Nebraska Junior Amateur Champion is a sophomore at Creighton Prep.
Read more about the NGA's Awards and Recognitions below.
About the NGA
The Nebraska Golf Association, founded in 1966, is comprised of all members of public and private clubs and/or municipal or regional golf associations which utilize an approved handicap service recognized by the USGA and provided by the NGA. Our mission is to uphold and promote the game of golf and its values to all golfers in Nebraska. Among the duties of the Association include governance of member clubs and service as their handicapping and course rating authority, conduct of state golf championships, local USGA qualifying & other notable competitions, promotion of junior golf, presentation of worthwhile educational programs and support of allied golf organizations in Nebraska. The Nebraska Golf Association is an Allied Golf Association of the USGA and carries out core services including Handicap Administration and Oversight, Course Rating, Rules of Golf and Rules of Amateur Status, Tournaments and USGA Championship Qualifiers and USGA Initiatives and Community Programs.
