WICHITA, Kan. – Wichita State women's golf head coach Tom McCurdy announced the signing of highly-decorated Lauren Thiele to a National Letter of Intent Tuesday morning.

"We are immensely excited to announce Lauren Thiele's signing with our golf program," McCurdy said. "Lauren has a ton of natural talent, controls the ball well and has a lot of tournament experience. She is a standout multi-sport athlete and fierce competitor."

A Wahoo, Neb. native, Thiele is a four-year letterwinner and two-time captain for the boys' team at Bishop Neumann High School. Bishop Neumann does not sponsor a girls golf team. Thiele is the only girl to win a Nebraska Team State Championship in boys golf. She helped lead Bishop Neumann to the state championship in 2021, while placing seventh individually. Thiele was a two-time individual medalist in 2021 along with three top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes. She recorded a personal best 18-hole score of 5-under 66 last season and finished with a 72.8 scoring average. Other 2021 highlights included a runner-up finish at the 21st Nebraska Girls Amateur Championship, qualifying and making the cut for the 45th Girls Junior PGA Championship, Nebraska Girls PGA Qualifier champion, the 59th Nebraska Girls Match Play champion and medalist honors at the Match Play Championship. In 2020, Thiele was a semifinalist for the 97th Nebraska Women's Match Play Championship. In the gym, Thiele has also earned several all-state honors in both basketball and volleyball and is the school record holder for three-pointers made in a game and season. In the classroom, she has been a St. John Neumann Academic Scholar Roll selection every semester, along with being named Academic All-State in volleyball, basketball and golf.

The daughter of Kevin and Lisa Thiele, Thiele has four sisters: Haley, Hannah, Lindsey and Brooke. Three of the four sisters have been a member of the University of Nebraska women's golf team. She plans to major in pre-med at Wichita State.

"She led her high school (boys) team to the Nebraska State Championship last season, as well as being a demonstrative leader on both her high school volleyball and basketball teams," McCurdy said. "Lauren also brings a wealth of second-hand knowledge of collegiate golf, as she has had three older sisters play for the University of Nebraska. She is a recruit that we have had our eyes on for a very long time and the moment she told me she wanted to be a Shocker, I knew our golf program was on the right track."