U-M Reaches Seventh NCAA Regional in Past Nine Seasons
4/27/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
NCAA Release | NCAA Central Regional Site
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The University of Michigan women's golf team received its fifth NCAA Regional team bid today (Monday, April 27). The Wolverines will head to Columbus, Ohio, to compete at the NCAA Central Regional, Thursday through Saturday (May 7-9) at OSU's Scarlet Course. Overall, it marks the seventh NCAA bid for U-M in the last nine seasons.
"I am just so happy we were able to secure a bid for the NCAA Regional," said U-M head coach Kathy Teichert. "I was very optimistic going into today, but the clock couldn't get to 4 p.m. fast enough. When you finish the Big Ten Championships on such a disappointing note, it was hard to get past that. We knew we put in the work and when I heard our name I was just so excited. This is really something that I am so, so proud and elated about for our players."
The 21 teams competing in the Central Regional include: UCLA, Oklahoma State, Purdue, Wake Forest, Louisville, Kent State, Michigan State, Ohio State, Stanford, New Mexico, Georgia State, Notre Dame, N.C. State, Washington, Kentucky, Chattanooga, Michigan, Murray State, Illinois State, Harvard, and Farleigh Dickenson. The three invited individuals are: Oklahoma's Kendall Dye, Idaho's Kayla Mortellaro and Arkansas Little-Rock's Sara Wikstrom.
The Wolverines will begin their quest to the 2009 NCAA Championships by playing a practice round at the Scarlet Course on Wednesday (May 6). The 54-hole Central Regional consists of 54 holes, with 18 holes being played each day beginning at 8 a.m.
"We are going to go down there and compete," said Teichert. "The goals we have set for ourselves have not changed. We, obviously, need to take them one step at a time, but we want to get the national championship and this is just the first step in the process. There are some great teams at this regional. We are going to have to play hard and well to advance. We have not been down to Ohio State since they hosted the Big Ten Championships in 2004. They have made some changes to the golf course, but we are looking forward to going down to play and compete hard."
The two other regional sites are the East Regional, hosted by Florida at the University of Florida Golf Club in Gainesville, Fla., and the West Regional, hosted by Arizona State at the Karsten Golf Course in Tempe, Ariz. From each regional, the top eight teams and the top two individuals not on a qualifying team will advance to the NCAA Championship Tuesday through Friday, May 19-22, at the Caves Valley Golf Club in Owings Mills, Md.
This season, Michigan recorded six top-five team finishes in the 12 tournaments, including team victories at the rain-shortened 2008 Wolverine Invitational in Ann Arbor, Mich., and at the 2009 Red Rocks Invitational in Sedona, Ariz. The Wolverines also produced one medalist during the season after junior Ashley Bauer(Grand Blanc, Mich./Grand Blanc HS) won the Wolverine Invitational with a school-record-tying 68 in the weather-shortened event.
The Maize and Blue were led by a trio of Wolverines during 2008-09 -- Bauer, freshman Milena Savich(Carmel, Ind./Carmel HS) and sophomore Min Yean Tan(Penang Island, Malaysia/Hills International College [Queensland, Australia]). Bauer started 12 tournaments to extend her consecutive streak to 35 straight events, not missing a tournament in her three seasons in Ann Arbor. She leads U-M with a 76.32 stroke average during the 2008-09 campaign and has six top-10 finishes in 12 events. Savich started all 12 events and is on pace to set the U-M freshman scoring record with a 76.74 per-round average. She has posted nine top-20 finishes in 12 events this season, including six in the top 10. Tan also started all 12 events and is averaging 78.38 strokes per round.
Michigan has been represented in regional competition by the team or an individual in seven of the last nine seasons, making team appearances in 2001, '02, '05, '07 and now '09. Laura Olin (2004) and Amy Schmucker (2006) made Central Regional appearances as individuals. In 2002, the Wolverines finished sixth at the Central Regional in East Lansing, Mich., to advance to their first appearance at the NCAA Championships, where the Maize and Blue finished 17th.
2009 NCAA Central Regional
Thursday-Saturday, May 7-9
OSU's Scarlet Course, Columbus, Ohio
1. UCLA
2. Oklahoma State
3. Purdue
4. Wake Forest
5. Louisville
6. Kent State
7. Michigan State
8. Ohio State
9. Stanford
10. New Mexico
11. Georgia State
12. Notre Dame
13. N.C. State
14. Washington
15. Kentucky
16. Chattanooga
17. Michigan
18. Murray State
19. Illinois State
20. Harvard
21. Farleigh Dickenson
Individual 1: Kendall Dye, Oklahoma
Individual 2: Kayla Mortellaro, Idaho
Individual 3: Sara Wikstrom, Arkansas Little-Rock
Contact: Tom Wywrot (734) 763-4423
