April 30, 2007
The 19th-ranked University of New Mexico women’s golf team has earned a berth in the NCAA West Regional, the NCAA Division I women’s golf committee announced this afternoon. Competition is May 10-12 at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George, Utah. The Mountain West Conference Championships were held on that same course earlier this month. UNM finished third behind TCU and BYU, but Lobo freshman Jodi Ewart (YOU-ert) took the MWC individual title.
BYU will serve as host for the West Regional. Live stats of the NCAA West Regional will be available at www.GolfStat.com.
This marks the 15th consecutive year New Mexico has made postseason action, or every year since regional play was introduced in 1993.
The NCAA Women’s Golf Championships are divided into three regional sites and conclude with the finals May 22-25 at the LPGA International Golf Course in Daytona Beach, Fla. Each regional site has 21 teams, with the top eight teams in each region advancing to the finals. New Mexico is the No. 8 seed in the West Regional. The other regional hosts are LSU and Michigan.
UNM’s last trip to the NCAA Championships was 2004 when it tied for 15th place at the Grand National Course in Opelika, Ala.
Joining the Lobos in next week’s West Regional are top-ranked Arizona State, No. 16 BYU, California, Cal Irvine, Campbell, Columbia, No. 22 Denver, No. 8 Florida, Idaho, Hawai’i, Memphis, Nebraska, No. 10 Oklahoma State, No. 4 Pepperdine, Sacramento State, San Francisco, San Jose State, No. 11 Stanford, UNLV and Washington State.
The Lobos will take an all-underclassmen lineup made up of two juniors (Giselle Claux and Alexandra Phelps), two sophomores (Mikaela Backstedt and Py Bengtsson) and one freshman (Jodi Ewart). Ewart is UNM’s top golfer with a scoring average of 72.96. She ranks No. 18 in the nation in the latest Golfweek poll.