Golfweek

Kristine Wessinger is leaving Minnesota to become the women’s golf coach at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minn., which will add a varsity golf team in fall 2011.

Wessinger spent the past eight years coaching Minnesota. She was responsible for recruiting and player development, and the Gophers recorded their best average team score in school history during the 2009-10 season. Minnesota finished the season No. 57 in the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

“I am really excited that we were able to find someone with such great coaching experience and energy to start our program,” St. Catherine athletic director Eric Stacey said. “Her experience at the University of Minnesota and her desire to move back into the MIAC, where she played as a student-athlete, made her a perfect fit. I am confident Kris will develop a strong team at St. Kate’s.”

As a student-athlete at the University of St. Thomas, Kristine was an MIAC champion, twice competed at the Division III national championships, earned three MIAC all-conference awards, was the St. Thomas player of the year three times and earned three Academic Achievement Awards.

Golfweek reported in its July 23 issue that John Harris, 58, who starred in hockey and golf at Minnesota in the 1970s and won the 1993 U.S. Amateur, would be named the Gophers’ director of golf. Brad James, who had coached Minnesota’s men, resigned to become the high-performance director for golf for the Australian Institute of Sport.