Sunny Powers was a four-time All-CCC golfer for the Cavaleirs.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. –Sunny Powers (Medford, Ore./North Medford H.S.), a two-time NAIA All-American and CCC Player of the Year, has been chosen as one of nine individual qualifiers to the NAIA Women's Golf National Championships, the national office announced on Thursday.
As member of the 2013 NAIA All-Tournament Team, Powers will represent Concordia at the national championships for the fourth straight year.
The complete Concordia women's golf team will not be making the trip to nationals for the first time in since its inaugural season in 2003-04 after finishing the season with a No. 22 ranking in the NAIA Coaches' Poll. The seven-time CCC champions needed an at large berth to nationals as the CCC did not receive an automatic bid in 2014.
Northwood (Texas.), ranked No. 16 in the final poll, received the eighth and final at large berth to compete at Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln, Neb., from May 20-23.
Concordia placed 16th at nationals as a team last season while Powers placed 11th overall out of 85 competitors for the highest single finish in school history. She placed 18th as a sophomore and 40th as a freshman.
Powers holds the school's career record with a 78.2 strokes per round average. In 22 rounds of action this season, Powers has a 77.7 average. Powers has captures medalist honors on 12 occasions throughout her career and has placed inside the top five in 30 of her career 41 tournaments.
NAIA Women's Golf National Championship Qualifiers Announced
KANSAS CITY, Mo.-- (
Final Rankings) The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has officially announced the qualifiers for the 20th Annual NAIA Women's Golf National Championships. For the second-straight year, the event will be held at the Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln, Neb., from May 20-23. First and second round pairings for the championships will be announced Friday by 3 p.m. CDT on
www.NAIA.org.
The 144-player field consists of 18 automatic qualifying teams, which won or finished as the runner-up in their respective conference, independent or unaffiliated grouping tournament championship; eight at-large selections; one host berth—Doane (Neb.); and nine individual qualifiers. At-large teams were determined using the final regular-season Coaches' Top 25 Poll released earlier today.
No. 1-ranked SCAD Savannah (Ga.) headlines a field that includes eight teams that finished among the Top 10 at last year's national championships. The Bees, who finished ninth last season, have been ranked No. 1 throughout the 2013-14 season and hold an NAIA-best adjusted scoring average of 77.44. SCAD Savannah is looking to become just the fifth Preseason No. 1 to go on to win the national title. To do so, the Bees will need strong performances from their returning First Team All-Americans, senior Alazne Urizar and sophomore Sofia Molinaro.
Urizar, who finished tied for seventh at last year's national championships with a 19-over 307 (76-77-76-78), captured The Sun Conference Tournament individual title with a 6-over 222 (72-78-72). Molinaro finished as the runner-up at the conference tournament with a 230 (75-77-78) and tied for 11th at the 2013 national championships with a 72-hole score of 310 (79-74-74-85).
The other returning Top 10 teams are: defending national champion Oklahoma City, defending national runner-up British Columbia, Embry-Riddle (Fla.), Cal State San Marcos, William Woods (Mo.), Northwood (Fla.) and Cumberlands (Ky.).
While SCAD Savannah is searching for its first national title, four other qualifying teams have claimed at least one national championship: Oklahoma City with an NAIA-best six, British Columbia (4), Mobile (Ala.) (1) and Northwood (Fla.) (1).
The nine individual qualifiers include five automatic berths and four at-large selections. To receive an individual automatic berth, a player must win her respective conference tournament or be an All-Tournament Team honoree from the previous year's national championships that did not qualify otherwise.
The five automatic berths went to individual titlists Clarissa Molina of Missouri Valley, Cassidy Scantland of Campbellsville (Ky.), Heather Shake of Houston-Victoria (Texas), Taylor Thompson of Saint Xavier (Ill.) and 2013 All-Tournament Team honoree
Sunny Powers (Medford, Ore./North Medford H.S.) of Concordia (Ore.).
Sarah Hicks of William Carey (Miss.), Brandi Bork of Westminster (Utah), Paige Moffat of Johnson & Wales (Fla.) and Jackie Mee of Carroll (Mont.) were selected by the national championship tournament committee as the at-large individuals to fill out the field of 144.
For more information on the 2014 NAIA Women's Golf National Championships, click
here.
2014 Women's Golf National Championships Team Qualifiers
|
School |
Qualification |
|
Baker (Kan.) |
Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Bellevue (Neb.) |
Unaffiliated Grouping: MCAC/NSAA Tournament Champion |
|
Bethel (Ind.) |
At-Large No. 6 |
|
Brescia (Ky.) |
Unaffiliated Grouping: KIAC/RRAC Tournament Champion |
|
British Columbia |
Association of Independent Institutions Tournament Champion |
|
Cal State San Marcos |
At-Large No. 5 |
|
Coastal Georgia |
Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
Mid-South Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Doane (Neb.) |
Host Berth |
|
Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) |
Unaffiliated Grouping: CalPac/GSAC Tournament Champion |
|
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) |
At-Large No. 3 |
|
Indiana Tech |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
Frontier Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Loyola (La.) |
Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament Runner-Up |
|
Marian (Ind.) |
Crossroads League Tournament Champion |
|
Northwood (Fla.) |
At-Large No. 1 |
|
Northwood (Texas) |
At-Large No. 8 |
|
Oklahoma City |
Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
At-Large No. 7 |
|
SCAD Savannah (Ga.) |
The Sun Conference Tournament Champion |
|
St. Andrews (N.C.) |
Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
At-Large No. 2 |
|
Victoria (B.C.) |
At-Large No. 4 |
|
William Penn (Iowa) |
Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Champion |
|
William Woods (Mo.) |
American Midwest Conference Tournament Champion |
2014 Women's Golf National Championships Individual Qualifiers
|
Individual |
Qualification |
|
Brandi Bork, Westminster (Utah) |
At-Large Individual |
|
Cassidy Scantland, Campbellsville (Ky.) |
Mid-South Conference Individual Medalist |
|
Clarissa Molina, Missouri Valley |
Heart of America Athletic Conference Individual Medalist |
|
Heather Shake, Houston-Victoria (Texas) |
Association of Independent Institutions Individual Medalist |
|
Jackie Mee, Carroll (Mont.) |
At-Large Individual |
|
Paige Moffat, Johnson & Wales (Fla.) |
At-Large Individual |
|
Sarah Hicks, William Carey (Miss.) |
At-Large Individual |
|
Sunny Powers (Medford, Ore./North Medford H.S.), Concordia (Ore.) |
Individual Automatic Qualifier - 2013 All-Tournament Team Member |
|
Taylor Thompson, Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Individual Medalist |