BATON ROUGE – The No. 10 LSU women’s golf team found out its NCAA Regional site assignment on Wednesday and it will be at the famed Scarlet Course at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, May 5-7.
The Tigers will be looking for a school record fifth consecutive NCAA Championship appearance. LSU has been to the championships four consecutive times twice in its history including its present streak.
The NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee announced the teams and individuals that have been selected to play at one of the six sites of competition that will take place in early May. Each site will feature 12 teams and six individuals. The top five teams (30 total) and the low individual not on an advancing team from each regional site will advance to compete in the national championships May 16-21 at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.
In the Columbus Regional, the Tigers are the No. 2 seed and will be joined by the following teams in seed order (Scoreboard by Clippd NCAA performance ranking in parenthesis):
1 Arkansas (2)
2 LSU (10)
3 Ohio State (14)
4 Kansas (23)
5 Houston (26)
6 SMU (35)
7 UNLV (39), Mountain West Champions
8 Illinois (47)
9 Kent State (52), Mid-American Champions
10 Illinois State (77), Missouri Valley Champions
11 Xavier (79), Big East Champions
12 Oakland (202), Horizon League Champions
“Post season is always an exciting time,” said LSU Coach Garrett Runion, who will be taking his sixth team to an NCAA Regional. “The team was surprised and excited to be the Number 2 seed at the Columbus Regional. It’s a course we’re not as familiar with, but know it’s a challenging course that will be set up and play like a true championship which I like. We will spend the next week preparing for northern golf as much as possible focusing on the task at hand.”
Speaking on the Golf Channel selection show special, analyst Jim Gallagher, Jr., speaking from the Zurich Classic of New Orleans where he will be on the call for the tournament starting Thursday, talked about the Tigers trying to create their own success this year.
“I asked Garrett (Runion) yesterday and he said he told his players, you are not going to replace an Ingrid Lindblad, Latanna Stone, Carla Tejedo. Ingrid Lindblad just won the LPGA event and Latanna and Carla are on the Epson Tour. And Taylor Riley had a great week at the SEC, finished second and Carla’s sister, Rocio, finished second as well. But you know, he said, ‘girls you got to just be who you are. You’ve got to work hard to be there.’
“In Florida at the Moon Intercollegiate,” Gallagher recalled, “they finished 15th of the 17 teams. Things weren’t going in the right direction. They figured it out, and won the Darius Rucker, obviously one of the toughest fields of the year. So that’s where they turned it around. They finished second, third and second in the medal play (at SECs). They’re trending in the right direction. Still a very young squad, but they stepped up, and that’s what these coaches want them to do. They can’t replace the three players. You just have to be yourself. So far, the Tigers have done that.”
LSU has done it with Rocio Tejedo, the freshman who is No. 19 in the Scoreboard rankings along with senior Aine Donegan at No. 50. Riley, the junior, has continued her climb from 255 to 116 in the rankings in the last month along with freshman Josefin Widal who is at No. 99 after being at 355 on March 5. Rounding out the lineup is senior Elsa Svensson who has made a strong return after some injury issues the last two years, ranked at No. 94.
The complete regional fields:
Columbus Regional Site
The Columbus Regional will be played at OSU Golf Club in Columbus, Ohio and will be hosted by Ohio State.
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Arkansas
2. LSU
3. Ohio State
4. Kansas
5. Houston
6. SMU
7. UNLV (Mountain West Conference)
8. Illinois
9. Kent State (Mid-American Conference)
10. Illinois State (Missouri Valley Conference)
11. Xavier (Big East Conference)
12. Oakland (Horizon League)
Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Isabella McCauley, Minnesota
2. Vanessa Zhang, Harvard (The Ivy League)
3. Savannah de Bock, Eastern Michigan
4. Mara Janess, Michigan
5. Neeranuch Prajunpanich, Youngstown State (Horizon League)
6. Jillian Cosler, Bradley (Missouri Valley Conference)
Charlottesville Regional Site
The Charlottesville Regional will be played at the Birdwood Golf Course in Charlottesville, Virginia and will be hosted by Virginia.
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. South Carolina (Southeastern Conference)
2. Virginia
3. Ole Miss
4. Florida
5. UCLA
6. UCF
7. College of Charleston (Coastal Athletic Association)
8. NC State
9. Brigham Young
10. Princeton (The Ivy League)
11. Richmond (Atlantic 10 Conference)
12. Radford (Big South Conference)
Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Pinky Chaisilprungruang, Charlotte
2. Nicha Kanpai, Maryland
3. Isabella Rawl, Clemson
4. Melena Barrientos, Clemson
5. Hannah Altman, UNC Wilmington (Coastal Athletic Association)
6. Paris Fieldings, Howard (Northeast Conference)
Gold Canyon Regional Site
The Gold Canyon Regional will be played at the Superstition Mountain Golf & Country Club in Gold Canyon, Arizona and will be hosted by Arizona State.
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Oregon (Big Ten Conference)
2. Arizona State
3. Auburn
4. Mississippi State
5. Oklahoma State
6. California
7. Virginia Tech
8. San Jose State
9. Sacramento State (Big Sky Conference)
10. Cal State Fullerton (Big West Conference)
11. Navy (Patriot League)
12. Quinnipiac (Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference)
Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Vivian Lu, Washington
2. Jasmine Leovao, Long Beach State
3. Janae Leovao, Long Beach State
4. Jensen Jalufka, Cal Poly
5. Daniela Campillo, ULM
6. Maddie Montoya, Montana State (Big Sky Conference)
Lexington Regional Site
The Lexington Regional will be played at Keene Trace Golf Club in Lexington, Kentucky and will be hosted by Kentucky.
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Florida State (Atlantic Coast Conference)
2. Southern California
3. TCU
4. Vanderbilt
5. Kansas State
6. Georgia Southern
7. Pepperdine
8. Louisville
9. Miami (FL)
10. Western Kentucky (Conference USA)
11. Morehead State (Ohio Valley Conference)
12. FDU (Northeast Conference)
Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Emma Bunch, New Mexico State
2. Gabi NiCastro, Samford
3. Marta López Echevarría, Kentucky
4. Madison Dabagia, Indiana
5. Caroline Smith, Indiana
6. Jasmine Driscoll, Ball State (Mid-American Conference)
Lubbock Regional Site
The Lubbock Regional will be played at The Rawls Course in Lubbock, Texas and will be hosted by Texas Tech.
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Texas
2. Wake Forest
3. Arizona (Big 12 Conference)
4. Texas A&M
5. Iowa State
6. Tennessee
7. Purdue
8. Campbell
9. UC Davis
10. Florida Gulf Coast (Atlantic Sun Conference)
11. Tarleton State (Western Athletic Conference)
12. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (Southland Conference)
Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Ryann Honea, Abilene Christian
2. Chantal El Chaib, Georgia
3. Klara Hurtova, Texas Tech
4. Kara Kaneshiro, Colorado State
5. Yvonne Chamness, Texas State
6. Julia McLaughlin, High Point (Big South Conference)
Norman Regional Site
The Norman Regional will be played at OU Jimmie Austin Golf Club in Norman, Oklahoma and will be hosted by Oklahoma.
Teams (seeded in the following order):
1. Stanford
2. Northwestern
3. North Carolina
4. Michigan State
5. Duke
6. Oklahoma
7. Baylor
8. Oregon State (West Coast Conference)
9. Tulsa (American Athletic Conference)
10. Denver (The Summit League)
11. Furman (Southern Conference)
12. Southern Mississippi (Sun Belt Conference)
Individuals (seeded in the following order):
1. Riana Mission, San Francisco
2. Grace Jin, Sam Houston
3. Cynthia Zhang, Boston College
4. Ffion Tynan, Missouri
5. Amelia Guo, Sam Houston
6. Zoe Pinillos, Augusta (Southland Conference)