ST. JOSEPH, Mo. – Needing to finish in the top-five as a team to advance to the NCAA Division II National Championship Tournament for a second-straight year, the Arkansas Tech women's golf team found themselves mostly on the outside looking in at the Central Region Tournament, but by the end of the 54-hole event, they had worked their way up to a fifth-place finish to earn that return trip.
OFFICIAL RESULTS
This will be the eighth appearance as a team at the NCAA DII National Championship for the Golden Suns. This year, the tournament is being held at the PGA National Resort in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida from May 13-17. Stroke play will take place May 12-14 and medal match play will be May 15-16.
The regional to get them back there did not start off the way the GAC Champion Golden Suns wanted it to as they shot 34-over after the first round on Monday and were in 13
th place. Tuesday, however, saw a marked improvement by 19 strokes as they shot 15-over in the second round.
That team score tied for the lowest of the round and vaulted the Golden Suns to a tie for sixth place heading into the final round on Wednesday.
Playing in the penultimate group on the course, the Golden Suns knew they had to play well for a second-straight day and perhaps benefit from other teams not performing as well in the final round, all the while, potentially waiting it out in the clubhouse until the final three teams finished.
As it would happen, the Golden Suns got both scenarios to go their way.
In the final round, Tech would tie for the fifth-lowest round at 29-over, putting them in the clubhouse with a 54-hole team total of 78-over and in position to finish in the top-five.
That became solidified as one of the teams they were grouped with, Washburn, had their highest team score of the tournament and shot 38-over to put their tournament total to 82-over, dropping them down three spots to seventh-place.
The other team Tech was grouped with, Southwestern Oklahoma, shot 16-over on Wednesday and rose three spots to claim the regional championship by two strokes.
With Tech and SWOSU's rounds complete and the final group of three teams, Minnesota State, Rogers State and Nebraska Kearney all ahead of Tech and close to finishing, the Golden Suns officially secured their second-straight trip to the NCAA DII National Championship.
Individually, the Golden Suns were led by
Ellen Spigner as she finished tied for fourth with a three-round total of 11-over.
Jaylee Castro finished tied for 11
th at 15-over followed by
Jessie Norman who tied for 37
th at 24-over.
Averi Mickelson was the fourth Golden Sun to play all three rounds and she improved after each round, ending at 37-over to finish tied for 87
th.
Maria Ruiz played the final two rounds after she entered the lineup as a substitute. She would shoot 14-over for her two rounds of play.
