FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The seventh-ranked University of Arkansas women’s golf team was selected to participant in the NCAA West Regional Championship hosted by Sacramento State May 8-10, it was announced Monday.
Arkansas is coming off a program-best second place team finish at the 2008 Southeastern Conference Championships in which senior Stacy Lewis earned medalist honors with a three-round 214 for the one-stroke victory.
“I’m excited about the West Regional,” said Arkansas head coach Shauna Estes-Taylor. “I tried to be strategic in my schedule planning and we played both the Central and East courses but it didn’t work out,” Estes-Taylor laughed.
“We haven’t played Lincoln Hills but we will try and gather as much information about the course as we can. We’ll prepare as we have all year long and see what happens.”
The 2008 selection is the seventh in the 13-year program history and the sixth consecutive. It is the second time the Lady Razorbacks have traveled to the West Regional. They were also in the West in 2006 when they played at Washington National in Auburn, Wash. Arkansas finished eighth and advanced to the NCAA Championship that year.
This year, Arkansas faces the challenges of Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Sacramento, Calif., and takes on a field that includes No. 3 Southern California, No. 4 Arizona State, No. 12 Arizona, No. 14 Oklahoma State, No. 17 California, No. 21 Michigan State and No. 23 Stanford as the other seeded teams at this regional.
The rest of the field includes No. 27 BYU, No. 29 Tulsa, No. 34 North Carolina, No. 36 Ohio State, No. 38 San Jose State, No. 41 Oklahoma, No. 44 Oregon, No. 46 UNVL, No. 53 UC-Davis, No. 60 UC-Irvin, No. 77 Fresno State, No. 97 Oral Roberts and No. 142 Portland State.
The top eight from each of the three regional sites advance to the 2008 NCAA Championship in Albuquerque, N.M., May 20-23.
“Our goal is to try and go out there and win the tournament,” said Estes-Taylor. “That’s our goal in every event we play and that strategy won’t change. I know they advance the top eight but if we strive to win we should advance without any problems.”
For more information about Arkansas women’s golf, please log on to LADYBACKS.COM.
East Regional
The East regional will be played May 8-10 at the UGA Golf Course, Athens, Georgia, hosted by the University of Georgia. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.
Teams:
1. Duke (ACC)
2. Florida ( SEC)
3. Georgia
4. Auburn
5. Wake Forest
6. Tennessee
7. Virginia
8. New Mexico (Mt. West)
9. Vanderbilt
10. Louisville
11. South Carolina
12. Furman (Southern Conf.)
13. East Carolina
14. Georgia State
15. UCF
16. Missouri
17. Indiana
18. NC-Wilmington (CAA)
19. Jacksonville State (OVC)
20. Charleston Southern (Big South Conference)
21. Jackson State (SWAC)
Individuals:
1. Dori Carter, Mississippi
2. Emma Degroot, Chattanooga
3. Paula Hurtado, Florida Intn’l
Central Regional
The Central regional will be played May 8-10 at the University of Texas Golf Course, Austin, Texas, hosted by the University of Texas. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.
Teams:
1. UCLA
2. Purdue (Big Ten Conference)
3. Alabama
4. Denver (Sun Belt Conference)
5. Kent State (MAC)
6. Pepperdine
7. LSU
8. Texas A&M
9. Notre Dame (Big East Conf.)
10. Texas
11. TCU
12. Florida State
13. North Carolina State
14. East Tenn. State (Atlantic Sun)
15. Texas Tech
16. Washington
17. Nebraska
18. Harvard (Ivy)
19. Texas State (Southland)
20. Illinois State (MVC)
21. Fairleigh Dickinson (NE Conf.)
Individuals:
1. Steffi Kirchmayr, College of Charleston
2. Sara Wikstrom, UALR
3. Araceli Felgueroso, Coastal Carolina
West Regional
The West regional will be played May 8-10 at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club, Lincoln, California, hosted by Sacramento State University. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.
Teams:
1. Southern California (Pac-10)
2. Arizona State
3. ARKANSAS
4. Arizona
5. Oklahoma State (Big 12)
6. California
7. Michigan State
8. Stanford
9. BYU
10. Tulsa (Conference USA)
11. North Carolina
12. Ohio State
13. San Jose State
14. Oklahoma
15. Oregon
16. UNLV
17. UC Davis
18. UC Irvine (Big West)
19. Fresno State (WAC)
20. Oral Roberts (Summit)
21. Portland State (Big Sky)
Individuals:
1. Mallory Blackwelder, Kentucky
2. Danielle Cvitanov, San Francisco
3. Emily Powers, Kansas
