LAS CRUCES, N.M. – The New Mexico State women's golf team begins its pursuit of the team's 10th appearance in the NCAA Championship just north in the Albuquerque, N.M. NCAA Regional on May 8-10, after earning the 14 seed on Thursday. The 2017 postseason marks the fourth consecutive NCAA Regionals appearance for the program.
Joining the Aggies at the regional is the No. 1 team in the nation Stanford, No. 9 Duke, No. 12 USC, No. 16 University of Miami (Florida), No. 17 Oklahoma State, No. 24 N.C. State, No. 26 University of California – Berkeley, No. 32 Illinois, No. 36 Pepperdine, No. 40 Washington, No. 41 SMU, No. 48 Campbell University, No. 49 Denver, Cal Poly, Sacramento State, Houston Baptist and Texas Southern.
Starting for the team in Albuquerque is Pun Chanachai, Kristen Cline, Dominique Galloway, Vale Macias and Camille Orito.
NM State is led by head coach Jackie Booth who earned WAC Coach of the Year at season's end and Chanachai who took home medalist honors at the WAC Championship and was named WAC Freshman and Player of the Year after a strong rookie campaign.
The team has finished in the top-10 in nine of the 10 events they have competed this year and taken home first place honors three times. Aggie individuals have posted 14 top-10 and 29 top-25 scores this season.
The NCAA Regionals, conducted at four sites (Albuquerque, N.M.; Athens, Ga.; Columbus, Ohio; Lubbock, Texas) will feature 54 holes of stroke play (five-count-four), with 18 holes each day. In total, 72 teams and 24 individuals were selected to compete in the four NCAA Women's Regional Championships, May 8-10 (18 teams and six individuals per regional).
The host site for the Aggies regional, UNM Championship Golf Course, is a 6,637 yard, par--72 layout. Live scoring for the three-day event can be followed on GolfStat.
The top six teams in each region and the top three individuals not associated with one of those teams will advance to the 2017 NCAA Championships, hosted by Northern Illinois University at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.
