BATON ROUGE — Eight teams, including five from the Southeastern Conference, have set the standard for advancing to the NCAA Championships by completing the three-round NCAA East Regional on Saturday afternoon at the University Club.
The LSU women’s golf team was not among the top eight, as the Lady Tigers weren’t able to put together a solid fourth score and finished the tournament at 34-over-par 898 (297-300-301) at their home course. The Lady Tigers will finish 12th at the 2002 NCAA East Regional.
The top eight teams, along with the top two individuals from non-advancing teams, advance to the NCAA Championships in Seattle, Wash.
LSU senior Meredith Duncan is expected to advance after shooting 3-under 213 for the three-day event, while Memphis’ Meaghan Francella (1-under 215) should be the second individual qualifier. Duncan was 1-over on Saturday.
LSU’s Lindy Hitdlebaugh and Isabel Dornellas each shot 2-over 74 in the final round, however, the Lady Tigers were forced to count an 8-over 80 by Brooke Shelton and Devon Day as the final score.
Second-ranked Duke held on to its second-round lead and won the regional with a final-round round of even-par 288 to finish at 5-under 859, a tournament record at the par-72 University Club. The Blue Devils won by 13 strokes.
Duke’s Leigh Anne Hardin took the medalist honors after firing a University Club women’s collegiate 54-hole record 6-under 210. Hardin won by one stroke over Auburn’s Celeste Troche and by three strokes over Duncan and Auburn’s Courtney Swaim.
Top-ranked Auburn finished second (287-293-292 — 872) at 8-over, while Wake Forest (293-288-294 — 875), Florida (286-290-302 — 878) and South Florida (289-296-298 — 883) rounded out the top five.
South Carolina (298-293-298) finished in sixth place at 25-over 889, while Georgia finished (300-295-297) at 28-over 892 and Vanderbilt (296-296-301) finished at 29-over 893 to complete the top eight.
Tulane (300-295-299 — 894) missed the NCAA cut by one stroke and finished ninth.
Tennessee (303-306-287 — 896) made a tremendous effort in the afternoon wave of the final round by shooting the lowest score of the day — 1-under 287 — but finished the tournament in 10th place, three strokes out of eighth place.
Memphis, which was paired with LSU and Furman in the final round, was 11th at 33-over 897, one shot ahead of LSU.
Furman (903), North Carolina State (907) and UCF (912) completed the top 15.
As of 5:20 p.m. CDT, there are three teams remaining on the course — Alabama, Yale and Jackson State. These teams are through at least 12 holes.
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In the Central Regional in East Lancing, Mich., the following eight teams are set to advance to the NCAA Championship: 1. Tulsa (914); 2. Ohio State and Texas (918); 4. Purdue (920); 5. Oklahoma State (921); 6. Michigan (929); 7. Oklahoma (931) and 8. Michigan State (932).
Tulsa’s Stacy Prammanasudh (3-over 219) will win the individual title and advance as an individual qualifier along with Kent State’s Martina Gillen who finished second at 7-over 223.
In the West Regional in Stanford, Calif., the following eight teams are set to advance to the NCAA Championship: 1. Pepperdine and UCLA (883); 3. Cal (889); 4. Arizona (890); 5. Stanford (901); 6. Arizona State and Washington (904); 8. Southern Cal (908).
New Mexico State’s Alena Sharp (2-over 218) will finish tied for third and advance as an individual qualifier, while New Mexico’s Kristi Larson (4-over 220) finished tied for eighth to advance to the NCAA Championships.