Women's Golf
- Title:
- Head Coach
- Email:
- dmcbluejayGolf@aol.com
- Phone:
- (402) 280-1722
Debbie Conry enters her 33rd season as head coach of the women’s golf program in 2025-26. Hired on July 25, 1993, she is the longest tenured active head coach at Creighton..
Over the years, Conry’s teams have shown strong commitment to academics while also representing their program and institution with the utmost respect. That dedication and persistence paid off in 2021-22, as Conry was named BIG EAST Coach of the Year and the Bluejays had their first postseason qualifier to NCAA Regionals. She added another major award in May of 2025 when she was recognized with Creighton's prestigious Leader for Life Award.
In addition to an extensive travel schedule of meets all over the Midwest, Conry’s teams practice at some of Omaha’s finest courses. Oak Hills Country Club, Happy Hollow Country Club, Shoreline Golf Club and Platteview Country Club all host Creighton practices on a regular basis.
The McGraw Family Indoor Golf Facility opened in February of 2025, giving the golf program a long-needed indoor facility to help the program make strides during the winter months.
On the course, CU is golfing better than ever. Since joining the BIG EAST in 2013 CU has shaved more than 30 strokes off its team scoring average, going from 334.3 (in 2013-14) to 304.24 (in 2022-23).
Creighton's 2024-25 team saw a youth movement, with three freshmen, four sophomores and a junior transfer. CU matched its best finish ever at the BIG EAST Championship, tying for third place, as sophomore Katharine Marshall and junior Morgan Becker both earned top-11 finishes. Becker (77.88) and freshman Julia Karmazin (77.96) we CU's top two individuals over the course of the season.
The Bluejays featured one of the youngest teams in the nation in 2023-24, with four freshmen joining one sophomore and one junior for a team that finished sixth in the BIG EAST. Junior Eleanor Hudepohl fired a single-season program record six rounds of par or better and led the team with a 76.71 scoring average. She also led CU with five top-10 finishes.
Creighton's 2022-23 campaign featured a pair of team titles and four individual championships. Bluejay individuals fired 16 rounds of par or lower, including a 67 from Katherine Lemke that set a Creighton record and tied a record at the BIG EAST Championships. CU shot a 291 in the second round of the BIG EAST Championships, another program record, where it placed third overall. Lemke became the first player in league history to win back-to-back BIG EAST Championships and was the only Division I women's player in the nation to win medalist honors at a conference championship in both 2022 and 2023. That win was was one of two for Lemke, while Hudepohl also picked up a pair of titles and set CU's single-season scoring average record (75.17). Both Hudepohl and Lemke were named First Team All-BIG EAST, CU's first duo ever to be honored in the same campaign.
In 2021-22 Creighton lowered its scoring average to 306.27 strokes per round and featured nine individual rounds of par or lower in 10 team events. Lemke was named First Team All-BIG EAST as well as BIG EAST Freshman of the Year after winning a three-way playoff to win medalist honors at the BIG EAST Championship. That victory, Lemke's second of the season, earned Lemke an automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals in Ann Arbor, Mich., as the first postseason qualifier in program history. Lemke would finish her rookie campaign with a (then) single-season program record of 76.36 strokes per round while also compiling four rounds under par and earning five top-10 finishes. Hudepohl averaged 77.07 strokes per round during her debut season, just ahead of Katie Allen (77.50) and Katie Berrian (78.55). CU also won the Creighton Classic in October of 2021, one of six top-five team finishes for the season. The team's 292 on Sept. 21, 2021 at the Coeur d'Alene Reort Collegiate Invite was a program record at the time.
Conry's squad won the Creighton Classic in October of 2019. That came one month after Allen won medalist honors at the nine-team Loyola Fall Invitational, CU's first event winner since Leigh Sutton in 2005. Allen and Gabby Tremblay both averaged under 78 strokes per round in 2019-20. Creighton's 2020-21 team finished third at the BIG EAST Championship, the program's best finish ever at a league meet under Conry. Tremblay earned All-Tournament Team honors after being the runner-up at the 2021 BIG EAST Championship, CU's best finish at a league meet since 2003.
Recent years have also seen Karsen Morrison, Betsy Conry, Rachel Grenko and Allen make a hole-in-one in competition. Lemke's 75.86, Hudepohl's 76.32, Allen's 77.72, Annie Dawson's 78.33 and Gabby Tremblay's 78.53 career scoring averages rank as the program's five best marks among women with 30 or more rounds in competition.
Creighton's 2013-14 team ranked fifth nationally in GPA (3.787), while her 2014-15 club moved up a spot to fourth place in the country with a 3.778 GPA. The 2016-16 team ranked 21st-best while her 2020-21 squad was 24th best with a 3.828 GPA. Both the 2021-22 (3.850) and 2022-23 (3.852) teams owned the nation's seventh-best GPA's. Conry's teams have also won eight Public Recognition Awards from the NCAA for having a program APR in the top-10 percent, and was recognized in 2024 at The Billy's for having the best GPA of any Creighton team.
Conry coached four players to the Missouri Valley Conference Women’s Golfer of the Week honors, and seven student-athletes to 14 MVC Scholar-Athlete First Team honors, including three-time honorees Leigh Sutton, Elizabeth Morell and Karen Beulke. Three ladies, Jennifer Martens (1999), Elizabeth Morell (2002 and 2003) and Celeste Gassman (2013) earned First Team All-MVC recognition under Conry. In addition, Betsy Conry won the State Farm Good Neighbor award in the spring of 2010.
The awards have only accelerated as Creighton moved to the BIG EAST prior to the 2013-14 academic year. In 2013-14, Creighton won the BIG EAST's Team Academic Excellence Award as the Bluejays had four women earn WGCA All-American Scholar accolades. Creighton then duplicated those feats in 2014-15 while once again producing four WGCA All-American Scholars and winning the BIG EAST's Team Academic Excellence Award. Conry's 2015-16 club had four more WGCA All-American Scholars, while Kelsey Petersen was named Second Team All-BIG EAST. CU has continued the success in the classroom in recent years with multiple WGCA recipients in 2016-17 (3), 2017-18 (4), 2018-19 (4), 2019-20 (5), 2020-21 (5), 2021-22 (5), 2022-23 (6), 2023-24 (5) and 2024-25 (5).
Perhaps the best-known former Creighton player that Conry had the pleasure of coaching, when she was also the head coach for the Creighton's men’s golf program, was PGA professional Scott Gutschewski. The Ralston, Neb., native competed under Conry in the mid-1990’s. After several years on the Korn Ferry tour, Gutschewski earned his PGA Tour card for the first time in 2005. Conry coached the Bluejay men's golf team for a dozen years before focusing solely on the women's program in 2005.
In addition to her duties at Creighton, Conry teaches physical education for the Bellevue Public School district and is a mentor for two children. Conry received the champion for children award for her teaching and contributions for the youth from the Bellevue/Offutt community in 2007.
Before coming to Creighton, Conry was the head girls golf coach at Bellevue (Neb.) East High School from 1979-85. Conry then held a dual role as head girls golf coach at Bellevue East and head boys golf coach at Bellevue West from 1989-93.
In her 15 years at the high school level, Conry coached teams that reached the state tournament seven times and had six players earn first-team all-state accolades.
As an undergrad at Creighton, Conry was awarded seven letters while competing for the Jays. She earned four letters in golf (1973-1977) and was a three-time honoree in basketball (1973-75, 1976-77). The former Debbie Marchese graduated with a degree in physical education in 1977.
Conry and her husband, Kyle, have one daughter, Betsy.
