Editor's Note: Recent NCAA legislation has granted additional eligibility to senior spring sport student-athletes who have been impacted by COVID-19. Despite revenue shortfalls within the department, we will continue to provide Cougar student-athletes with the tools necessary to succeed including academic resources, nutrition, medical support, travel and equipment. The Cougar Athletic Fund has launched this new campaign to help support these "Super Seniors" and provide them with the resources to continue their dreams of competing and attending school at Washington State University.

We invite you to join our Super Senior CougsGive campaign, April 14, 2021, when we will be fundraising for these additional scholarships. We are featuring our "Super Senior" student-athletes who have returned this spring to continue their education and finish out their careers as a Coug. The following story highlights women's golf student-athlete Marie Lund-Hansen. 

For more information about how you can be a part of the Super Senior #CougsGive campaign click HERE


Marie Lund-Hansen's first visit to the Washington State University campus still resonates with her years later. 

"The minute I set foot on campus I knew," Lund-Hansen, a student-athlete on the women's golf team, said.

It was night when Lund-Hansen and her father arrived on campus for her official recruiting visit, making the trip from Denmark. 

Under the glow of the campus street lights, Lund-Hansen and her father took a drive.

"We got in late and we drove by UREC (Student Recreation Center) and the tennis courts, and we saw all the Coug flags," Lund-Hansen said. 

"I told my Dad this is it," Lund-Hansen added and then taking a pause, continued, "I get so emotional talking about it because I remember those feelings. It was really special seeing everything crimson and gray."

Since 2016, Lund-Hansen has been a mainstay on the Cougar golf team. She is third on the school record list with 33 par or better rounds and second in scoring average at 73.96.

"Whenever Marie steps on the tee she's ready to compete and give it her all," Women's Golf Head Coach Kelli Kamimura said. "It's been a really good fit.

"Marie absolutely loves being a Coug," Kamimura added. "She loves being in Pullman and she has really adapted and embraced life here. She loves representing WSU."

"I don't think people realize how special Pullman and WSU is before you step foot here," Lund-Hansen said. "There's a special feeling that is hard to explain."

Lund-Hansen's WSU career was expected to conclude last spring, but COVID made other plans.

It was March 10 and Lund-Hansen had just won the Meadow Club Invitational in California, sharing the title with teammate Amy Chu. It was Lund-Hansen's first career collegiate win.

While the presence of COVID, "was simmering to be something bigger" she acknowledged, what transpired in the next couple of days was still a shock to everyone. 

"We were supposed to go to Hawaii that next weekend," Lund-Hansen said. "We came home, and I remember we had the next day off and Thursday was to be a team practice day." 

"That was the day we shut it down," she continued. "Everything happened so quickly we didn't realize what was happening. In my head I was ready to play the season and then figure out what to do with my life."

Lund-Hansen returned home to be with her family in Denmark.

"I went home thinking that I will get this extra year," she said. "There is no way cut this season short and not give us our four years."

On March 30, almost three weeks after Lund-Hansen saw her season come to a sudden end, the NCAA voted to grant an extra year of eligibility to all spring sports student-athletes.

"I was really excited," Lund-Hansen said. "I get another go of my senior year. I still had another semester of school, so it made sense to come back and be with my teammates another year and finish things."

Lund-Hansen, who earned a degree in strategic communications with a double minor in sports management and sport communication, is now pursuing a masters in sports management. 

And pursuing a trip to the NCAA Championships, as well.

Before the season was cut short, the Cougars were well-positioned in the rankings to earn their first team berth to NCAA postseason play for the first time since 2007.

"We really have a good team this year," Lund-Hansen said. "Everyone is stepping up and doing their part. We are all here for the same goal: we want to make regionals and nationals."

"For Marie, when the season got cut short, she worked so hard over the years that she feels like she has some unfinished business," Kamimura added. "We've been right on the cusp of advancing to NCAAs and I think, for her, it's exciting to give it all she has one last time to have this opportunity and she really embraces that." 

Lund-Hansen extra year will be on scholarship, a fact not lost on her.

"It is a blessing," Lund-Hansen said of the opportunity to play this year on scholarship. "Getting a scholarship to play at a DI school has been so life-changing. You can't put a price on a scholarship."

Just like that night when she took a drive with her Dad on the WSU campus, the feelings and emotions WSU and Pullman bring up evokes the same emotions years later.

"Being a Coug is being in a family, whether you know them or not, they just care about you," Lund-Hansen said. "I really believe Pullman is a place for everyone. It's hard to put into works because it's so special. It's family."