Nina Lee got started in the game of golf a little later than a lot of kids when her dad got her interested at around the age of 12 and she grew to quickly love the game. Her middle school years were spent honing her skills with her dad’s help on the course and the driving range. And there was also an organization in Tulsa, not far from her home in Collinsville, called First Tee which describes itself as a youth development organization that enables kids to build a strength of character while seamlessly teaching the fundamentals of golf, that played a part in her development.

“I learned a lot at First Tee and found a couple of role models in Marla Souvannasing and Nadia Majidizadeh that were older girls that I really looked up to and thought that was what I wanted to be like, and I’m still involved there.”

She went on to have a stellar career at Collinsville High School playing the one or two bag in her four years and leading the team to three conference titles and a spot in the state tournament her senior year where she won Class 5A individual medalist honors and her team finished second.

“The thing I like about golf is that it’s an individual sport and you don’t have to rely on teammates to have success,” said Lee, a Covid sophomore though a junior academically. “I started looking around my senior year for a place to play college golf and had heard a lot of good things about Northeastern State. They had a solid golf program, and it was fairly close to home, so it seemed like a win-win. When I visited, everyone was very friendly and straightforward about the program, and I came away pretty excited. When I got here, I really liked the team and the town and the busy schedule of college life.”

Among Nina’s RiverHawk highlights so far was shooting a 69 at the Midwest Classic last year and even though admittedly struggling a little with her swing this season, was still an All-MIAA Honorable Mention while averaging just under 80 strokes a round and shooting a team-best 150 for two rounds in the Central Region Preview.

Nina completed a degree in health and human performance this year and will start work on her master’s next year as she pursues more golf highlights for the RiverHawks. Her advice to high school seniors?

“If you’re looking for a solid golf program and are willing to work hard, NSU is the place for you.”