With a women’s NCAA regional tournament coming to Colorado for the first time, it seems only appropriate that the state be well represented in the field.
Mission accomplished.
Three Colorado-based Division I teams — the host University of Colorado and conference champions University of Denver and University of Northern Colorado — will be in the 24-school field for the NCAA West Regional set for May 10-12 at Colorado National Golf Club in Erie. And Colorado State senior Brianna Espinoza will be one of six individuals competing.
In addition, freshman Somin Lee, whose hole-in-one during the West Coast Conference Championship helped Pepperdine to the title, will be returning to play in her home state.
The regional fields were announced Monday night by the NCAA Women’s Division I golf committee.
In addition to the local players, the competitors in Erie will include the defending NCAA champion UCLA Bruins and North Dakota State’s Amy Anderson, the 2009 U.S. Girls’ Junior champion.
Four players ranked among the top 10 in women’s college golf will tee it up in Colorado (best national ranking noted): Erynne Lee of UCLA (2); Lee Lopez of UCLA (6); Tiffany Lua of UCLA (7); and Anderson (9).
And four programs in the top 10 national team rankings will be bound for Erie (best national ranking noted): UCLA (1), North Carolina (6), LSU (6) and Cal (9).
“It’s a tough field,” said CU coach Anne Kelly, whose team is seeded fourth in the West Regional. “There are 8-12 really good teams, but all of the regionals have that. That’s what it’s all about. You’ve got to play the best to be the best.”
The top eight team finishers (and two individuals not on those teams) at Colorado National — and each of the other two regional sites in State College, Pa., and Columbus, Ohio — will advance to the Div. I NCAA Championship Finals, set for May 22-25 in Franklin, Tenn.
As a three-time winner this season, and as one of the top 12-ranked teams in the nation, CU is a good bet to advance, especially on its home course. The Buffs, who are headed to just their third NCAA regionals, have never qualified for the national finals. But they are ranked the highest they’ve ever been in program history.
“I think we have a good chance” to go to nationals, Kelly said. “But we have to go out and play our game and not get ahead of ourselves. We’ve been pretty good about that this year. This is a really good team, they work hard and they’re motivated to make it happen.”
It doesn’t help that the tournament falls at the end of CU’s final exams and during graduation — Emily Talley and Jessica Wallace are seniors this year — but the Buffs hope things fall into place.
“We won’t have many team practices between now and the tournament,” Kelly said. “Hopefully the players can get all of their exams done by (May 8). That’s the hard part, having regionals at this time of year.”
As for DU and UNC, they’re both coming off conference victories. The Pioneers claimed their ninth consecutive Sun Belt championship, with freshman Rachael Watton earning the individual title. Northern Colorado won its first Big Sky Conference championship, with sisters Carleigh and Chelsea Silvers finishing 1-2, respectively.
For both DU and UNC, it was their first team title of the season. DU, which has qualified for the NCAA regionals 11 consecutive years, is seeded 15th out of the 24 teams at Colorado National, while UNC is 23rd.
Here are all of the teams that will compete at Colorado National (in order of seeding) — 1. UCLA; 2. LSU; 3. North Carolina; 4. Colorado; 5. California; 6. Baylor; 7. Pepperdine; 8. Cal-Davis; 9. Oklahoma; 10. Texas Tech; 11. Tulsa; 12. TCU; 13. Iowa State; 14. Stanford; 15. Denver; 16. UNLV; 17. New Mexico; 18. Oregon State; 19. Illinois; 20. Kennesaw State; 21. San Jose State; 22. Missouri State; 23. Northern Colorado; 24. Jackson State.
Meanwhile, three teams from Colorado — Colorado Mesa, Colorado State-Pueblo and Adams State — made the women’s Div. II regional field on Monday. They’ll compete May 6-8 in the Central Regional in Elephant Butte, N.M., along with individual qualifiers Nicole Hulbert and Lara Mocs from Regis, and Maria Manrique of Colorado Christian. The top three team finishers will advance to the national finals, set for May 16-19 in Louisville, Ky.
Men’s NCAA Tournaments
The men’s Div. I NCAA regional selections will be announced on May 7.
The men’s Div. II regional lineups were unveiled on Friday, and four teams from Colorado will compete in the West/Central Super Regional May 7-9 in Litchfield Park, Ariz.: Colorado School of Mines, CU-Colorado Springs, Colorado State-Pueblo and Colorado Mesa. In addition, Minkyu Jeon of Colorado Christian and Charlie Laudermilk of Fort Lewis will compete as individuals.
The top five team finishers in each super regional will earn spots in the national finals, set for May 15-19 in Simpsonville, Ky.
Mines, the top seed in the Central Region, won its first conference title since 1968 by capturing the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Spring Championship. All told, the Orediggers have won six tournaments this season.
Senior Jim Knous, who claimed the RMAC individual title, was the RMAC’s Player of the Year.
