Gamecocks Earn NCAA Regional Bid

May 1, 2006

Columbia, S.C. – The No. 23 South Carolina women’s golf team will compete as the eighth seed at the 2006 NCAA Women’s Golf East Regional Championship played May 11-13 at Bryan Park Golf Course in Browns Summit, N.C., it was announced today. The Gamecocks earned their eighth consecutive NCAA Regional bid and are making their 11th trip to the postseason in 12 years under head coach Kristi Coggins.

The NCAA Regional Championships are divided into three regions (East, Central and West) with 21 teams plus the three top individuals who play for schools that did not qualify as a team competing in each region. The top eight teams at regionals plus the top two individuals advance to the NCAA Championships played May 23-26 in Columbus, Ohio.

The Gamecocks will play a familiar course at the East Regional, as Carolina competed at the Bryan National Collegiate March 31-April 2, finishing seventh in an 18-team field comprised of 16 teams that earned NCAA Regional berths this year. Of the seven teams seeded ahead of Carolina in this year’s East Regional, the Gamecocks have gone head-to-head against six in various tournaments this spring, finishing ahead of five of the teams at least once.

“We are really pleased with the way that the regions fell,” Coggins said. “We feel like we are a team on the rise and that we are peaking at the right time. We will enter this regional with a lot of confidence because we have had recent success over the majority of the teams we will face. We are excited for the opportunity to go compete on a course that we are familiar with and we expect to play well and advance.”

Carolina is one of eight ranked teams competing in the East Regional and joins six other Southeastern Conference schools competing in the East. All tolled, 10 SEC schools earned NCAA Regional berths this year.

East Regional
The East regional will be played May 11-13 at the Bryan Park Golf Course, Bryan Park, North Carolina, hosted by Wake Forest University. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.
Teams:
1. Arizona State
2. Auburn (Southeastern Conference)
3. Tennessee
4. Wake Forest
5. California
6. Vanderbilt
7. Virginia
8. South Carolina
9. LSU
10. Florida State
11. Alabama
12. North Carolina State
13. Augusta State
14. Maryland
15. Furman
16. North Carolina
17. Mississippi State
18. Campbell (Atlantic Sun Conference)
19. College of Charleston (Southern Conference)
20. East Carolina (Conference USA)
21. Yale (Ivy Group)

Individuals:
1. Adrienne White, Louisville
2. Christina Jones, South Florida
3. Michelle Jarman, North Carolina-Wilmington

Central Regional The Central regional will be played May 11-13 at The Traditions at Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, hosted by Texas A&M University. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution.
Teams:
1. Duke (Atlantic Coast Conference)
2. Southern California
3. Pepperdine
4. Texas A&M (Big 12 Conference)
5. Florida
6. Oklahoma State
7. Kent State (Mid-American Conference)
8. Ohio State
9. Michigan State
10. SMU
11. TCU
12. Missouri
13. Baylor
14. Tulsa
15. Nebraska
16. Northwestern
17. Texas
18. Birmingham-Southern (Big South Conference)
19. Jacksonville State (Ohio Valley Conference)
20. Jackson State (Southwestern Athletic Conference)
21. St. Francis (Pennsylvania) (Northeast Conference)

Individuals:
1. Samantha Richdale, Illinois State
2. Amy Schmucker, Michigan
3. Amanda Costner, Kansas

West Regional
The West regional will be played May 11-13 at the Washington National Golf Club, Las Auburn, Washington, hosted by the University of Washington. Conference automatic qualifiers are indicated in parenthesis next to the institution. Teams:
1. UCLA (Pacific-10 Conference)
2. Georgia
3. Purdue (Big Ten Conference)
4. Arkansas
5. UNLV (Mountain West Conference)
6. Arizona
7. Stanford
8. New Mexico
9. Washington
10. Long Beach State
11. Brigham Young
12. UC Irvine (Big West Conference)
13. San Jose State (Western Athletic Conference)
14. Denver (Sun Belt Conference)
15. Oregon State
16. Washington State
17. New Mexico State
18. Georgia State (Colonial Athletic Association)
19. Oral Roberts (Mid-Continent Conference)
20. Bradley (Missouri Valley Conference)
21. Montana (Big Sky Conference)