EAST LANSING – As a regional host, the Michigan State women’s golf team knew the postseason would begin on its home course at Forest Akers last year. That meant a lack of suspense watching the selection show so this season was expected to be different but the intrigue was brief. Just six minutes into the broadcast last week, the Spartans were announced as the No. 4 seed in a regional hosted by Oklahoma in Norman. “That was one of the quickest ones ever,” coach Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll said. “Easy.” The road ahead isn’t as the Spartans head into the 54-hole regional Monday through Wednesday at Jimmie Austin OU Golf Club. It will be their ninth straight appearance in an NCAA regional and 25th time in the last 26 years. The top five teams in the 12-squad field, along with the lowest-scoring individual not part of a qualifying team, advance to the NCAA Championships later this month in California. “Our team is feeling great,” said senior Brooke Biermann, a first team All-Big Ten selection who locked up a spot in the Women’s U.S. Open by winning a qualifier on Monday in Illinois. “We have so much talent here.” Michigan State, No. 24 in the latest rankings, is coming off a second-place finish behind No. 5 Oregon in the Big Ten Championships in Maryland. The Spartans beat a pair of conference teams ranked above them – Northwestern and Ohio State – and are heading to a regional in Oklahoma for the second time in four seasons. Biermann and Katie Lu were freshmen on a squad that went to Stillwater and both called it a “full-circle moment” after the latest draw was revealed. “It just reminds me of all the growth that I myself had these past four years here at Michigan State and then also this team,” Lu said. “We have a really solid team this year and since the fall season to now we’ve all grown so much as players. I think whatever Oklahoma throws at us, we’re going to be ready.” The Spartans were an at-large selection for the Norman regional that includes No. 1 Stanford, winner of two of the last three national titles. Northwestern and North Carolina are also seeded above them but Michigan State won its first regional title just two years ago. “Every field at the regional is tough,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “All the teams are coming to play, they’ve all proved to be some of the best teams throughout the entire season. Every year we have our work cut out for us but I feel very good about the teams that are there. Nice and comforting to know we just beat Northwestern this week at the Big Ten Championships. That works on your psyche.” Biermann was a sophomore on that 2023 team and became the first in the program to win an individual regional title by tying for the top spot. Lu, who last year led the team in scoring at 71.54 – the second-best single-season mark for a Spartan – was also on that squad. “Four years to grow and see different things, experience amazing things that coach allows us to see,” Biermann said. “The fact that (for) four years, this team has been pretty consistent and consistently in the Big Ten finishes and rankings and then no problem getting to regionals or anything.” Lu and Biermann have a lot of golf ahead but there’s no guarantee their college careers will extend beyond next week. They’re standout seniors on a team that made program history. “I look on the walls of what we’ve accomplished and they’re just two more amazing, young, awesome Spartans,” Slobodnik-Stoll said, “that are going to graduate from here that have left their mark and helped us continue to be one of the best teams in the country for over 25 years now.” Michigan State advanced as a team to the NCAA Championships three of the last four seasons and plans on getting back this year. The Spartans have experienced veterans to lean on heading to Oklahoma. “We expect to win and we expect to get a spot at the national championship,” Slobodnik-Stoll said. “That really is the ultimate goal.”