Scott Kretzmann
ASC Sports
Information Director
INDIANAPOLIS— The Adams State College women’s golf team has selected to compete in its second straight NCAA Central Regional Championship. The announcement was made Monday afternoon by the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Committee.
The Grizzlies are one of nine teams from the region, made up of the Rocky Mountain Athletic and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conferences, who were selected to compete in the May 6-8 championships to be held at Sierra Del Rio Golf Course in Elephant Butte, N.M. Four individuals were also selected.
The 49 players will play three competitive 18-hole rounds (Sunday-Tuesday) after a Saturday practice round. The top three teams along with the top three individuals not on those teams will advance to the 72-hole NCAA Division II Championships in Louisville, Ky., slated for May 16-19.
A total of 36 teams and 16 individuals from all of the nation’s four regions were picked for the regionals.
The Grizzlies made their first team appearance in 2011 and will be represented for the third time in the last four years as then senior Jenny Ives was selected as an individual in 2009.
The Grizzlies were ranked ninth in the initial set of NCAA regional rankings, released on Apr. 12, but slipped to 10th in the Apr. 19 rankings after a sixth place finish at the RMAC Championships. However, the Grizzlies moved back to the important No. 9 spot in last Thursday’s rankings despite not competing since the Apr. 16-17 Championships.
In 2011-12, the Grizzlies have posted a 336.9 team scoring average, a nearly 5-shot betterment of their 341.6 average in 2010-11, which is the current school record.
Grizzly freshmen Rachel Reiling (Littleton, Colo.) and Rachel Dyess (Richmond, Texas) are also both ahead of pace to set the individual single-season scoring record, currently held by Ives. Reiling, a Third Team All-RMAC pick, currently holds an 83.6 scoring average while Dyess holds a 84.5 scoring average, just fractions lower than Ives’ 84.5 scoring average.
Meanwhile, RMAC Freshman of the Year and second team all-conference selection Maressa McClintock (Centennial, Colo.) holds an 84.8 scoring average entering the regional.
Sixth-year coach Jay Meyer will have a lineup of four freshmen for the regional. Meanwhile, sophomore Kyra Garrison (Farmington, N.M.), who holds an 85.6 scoring average this season, is the only current Grizzly with NCAA Championship experience. She finished in a 44th place tie at last year’s regional played in St. Paul, Minn.
The Grizzlies will be joined by RMAC rivals Colorado Mesa, Colorado State-Pueblo and Western New Mexico as well as by Augustana (S.D.), Minnesota State, Concordia-St. Paul (Minn.), Southwest Minnesota State and Winona State (Minn.) out of the NSIC. Emily Kerber of St. Cloud State (Minn.), Maria Manrique of Colorado Christian and Nicole Hulbert and Lara Pocs, both of Regis were the four individual selections.
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