May 1, 2001
TEMPE, Ariz. - The Arizona State women's golf team has been selected as the No. 6 seed at the NCAA West Regional Championship being held May 10-12 at the Trysting Tree Golf Club in Corvallis, Ore. The selection marks Arizona State's ninth consecutive invitation to NCAA regional action.
Arizona, winner of last week's Pac-10 Championships, is the No. 1 seed in the west, followed by conference foes USC and Stanford. Tennessee and Ohio State round out the top five seeds, followed by Arizona State, UCLA, Michigan State, Washington and Furman. The rest of the field is comprised of Indiana, Oregon, Memphis, Missouri, Colorado State, Nevada, tournament host Oregon State, BYU, Central Connecticut State, Southwest Missouri State and Weber State.
Nine of the 10 Pac-10 schools qualified for NCAA regional action with eight staying in the west and California going to the Central Regional. Washington State senior Tasha Browner was also selected as one of two individuals in the West Regional, so all 10 Pac-10 schools will be represented.
"We are really excited to stay on the West Coast," Arizona State head coach Linda Vollstedt said. "We are familiar with Oregon. We are coming off two good tournaments and playing with a lot of confidence right now. We are looking forward to a great performance at regionals."
This season marks the first year that the NCAA has gone to a three-regional format. Twenty-one teams and two individuals have qualified for each regional with the NCAA East Regional being held at Finley Golf Course in Chapel Hill, N.C. (University of North Carolina, host) and the Central Regional being held at Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex in West Lafayette, Ind., (Purdue University, host).
The top eight teams and two individuals from each region will qualify for the NCAA Championships to be held May 23-26 at the Mission Inn Golf and Tennis Resort in Howie-in-the-Hills, Fla.
Last year, Arizona State hosted the NCAA West Regional at ASU Karsten Golf Course. Eventual national champion Arizona won the tournament by five strokes. The Sun Devils finished fourth, while ASU All-America selection Miriam Nagl captured individual medalist honors.
Arizona State has turned in top three finishes in each of its last three tournaments, most recently with a third-place showing at last week's Pac-10 Championships. All five Sun Devils finished in the top 25 at the Pac-10 conference tournament, held April 23-25 at ASU Karsten Golf Course, led by freshman Jimin Kang who tied for fifth place.