For the fifth-straight year and the 11th-time in the last 13 years, the University of Southern Indiana women’s golf team will play in the NCAA Division II East Super-Regional Tournament. The three-day, 54-hole tournament is May 2-4 at Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois.
USI, which either has had a team or an individual qualify for the NCAA II Tournament for the last 14th seasons, earned the fourth seed in the 12-team field after finishing third this past weekend at the Great Lakes Valley Conference Championship.
The top three teams along with the top three individuals, not on a top-three team, will advance to the NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championships, which is May 18-21 at Common Ground Golf Course in Aurora, Colorado. The championships will be a part of the 2016 NCAA Division II Championship Festival, which is hosted by Metropolitan State University of Denver and the Denver Sports Commission.
Sophomore Taylor Howerton leads the Eagles this spring, posting a 77.8 shots per round average (spr) since joining the squad in January. She was USI’s top finisher at the GLVC Championships this past weekend, placing sixth with a 10-over 226 (78-76-72).
Howerton is joined by an experienced squad of Eagles in junior Allison Koester and seniors Anastasia Carter, Brittanie Garrison, and Molly English. Carter, who won the GLVC individual title in 2014, was second on the squad with a 78.5 spr, while Garrison, who earlier this spring shattered the USI records for 18 and 54 holes at the Perry Park Spring Fling and tied for 12th at the GLVC Championships, has a 79.17 spr in 2015-16.
Koester, who was the 2015 GLVC individual champion and tied for 12th this year in the GLVC Championships, was fourth on the squad with a 79.2 spr. English rounds out the Eagles’ top five with an 81.4 spr.
As a team in 2015-16, USI posted a 314.7 spr as a team in 11 tournaments. The Eagles also won five tournaments this year, including three of the last four in the spring.
The Eagles will be one of six GLVC teams earning a spot in the 12-team field. Second-seeded University of Indianapolis, fifth-seeded University of Missouri-St. Louis, 11th-seeded Lewis University and 12th-seeded Drury University also qualified for the event.
The remaining six slots in the field went to Grand Valley State University (first), the University of Findlay (third), Ashland University (sixth), California University (Pennsylvania) (seventh), Northwood University (eighth), and Trevecca Nazarene University (ninth).
In the 2015 NCAA II East Super-Regional, USI placed seventh with a three-round 958 (321-308-329). Garrison was the Eagles’ top player last spring with a three-round 235 (77-76-82) and tied for 17th.
