KANSAS CITY, Mo. – The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) has announced the qualifiers for the 21st annual NAIA Women’s Golf National Championships. For the first time in event history, the championships will be held at Savannah Quarters Country Club in Pooler, Ga. The four-round event takes place
May 12 – 15.
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 19 automatic qualifying teams, which won their respective conference, Association of Independent Institutions or unaffiliated grouping tournament titles, eight at-large selections, and 10 individual qualifiers. At-large teams were determined using the final regular season Coaches’ Top 25 Poll released earlier today.
Two-time defending national champion Oklahoma City headlines a field that includes eight teams that finished among the top 10 at last year’s national championships. The Stars needed a one-hole playoff to become the first team to win back-to-back titles since 2009. Last year’s team championship was the seventh all-time for Oklahoma City in the 20-year history of the event.
The Sooner Athletic Conference champions are led by three All-SAC award winners in Kailey Campbell, Claudia Chemin and Katie-Lee Wilson. Chemin was the top finisher for the Stars at the SAC championships, taking third-place with a score of 78-73—151. Campbell and Wilson, who are both returning All-Americans, tied for sixth at the event.
The other returning top 10 teams are: Bellevue (Neb.), British Columbia, Cumberlands (Ky.), Indiana Tech, Northwood (Fla.), SCAD Savannah (Ga.) and William Woods (Mo.).
Two qualifying programs outside of Oklahoma City have claimed at least one national championship – British Columbia (4) and Northwood (Fla.) (1).
The Sun Conference – Embry-Riddle (Fla.), Northwood, SCAD Savannah and USC Beaufort (S.C.) – and Association of Independent Institutions – British Columbia, Cal State San Marcos, Houston-Victoria (Texas) and Victoria (B.C.) – lead all leagues with four teams each represented in the field.
The 10 individual qualifiers include six 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 were to individual titlists Jocelyn Ojala of Bethel (Ind.), Kamie Rash of Kansas Wesleyan, Kathryn Lawler of Midway (Ky.), Kyla Clancy of Rocky Mountain (Mont.) and Krystal Garritson of St. Francis (Ill.). Sarah Gillard of Coastal Georgia, an all-tournament award winner a season ago after finishing tied for eighth-place, claimed the sixth individual automatic berth.
Heather Nail of Mobile (Ala.), Paige Hartman of St. Andrews (N.C.), Jodi Henley of Thomas (Ga.) and Sarah Hicks of William Carey (Miss.) 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 2015 NAIA Women’s Golf National Championships, click
here.
2015 Women’s Golf National Championships Team Qualifiers (listed alphabetical)
|
School |
Qualification |
|
Baker (Kan.) |
Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Bellevue (Neb.) |
Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Brescia (Ky.) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
British Columbia |
Association of Independent Institutions Tournament Champion |
|
Cal State San Marcos |
At-Large No. 6 |
|
Concordia (Ore.) |
Cascade Collegiate Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Cumberlands (Ky.) |
Mid-South Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.) |
Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Dalton State (Ga.) |
Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Embry-Riddle (Ariz.) |
Unaffilated Group - Cal Pac/GSAC Tournament Champion |
|
Embry-Riddle (Fla.) |
At-Large No. 7 |
|
Houston-Victoria (Texas) |
At-Large No. 3 |
|
Indiana Tech |
Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Jamestown (N.D.) |
Unaffilated Group - GCAC/KCAC/NSAA/RRAC Tournament Champion |
|
Lewis-Clark State (Idaho) |
Frontier Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Marian (Ind.) |
Crossroads League Tournament Champion |
|
Milligan (Tenn.) |
Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Northwood (Fla.) |
The Sun Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Oklahoma City |
Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
Saint Xavier (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Tournament Champion |
|
SCAD Savannah (Ga.) |
At-Large No. 1 |
|
Texas Wesleyan |
At-Large No. 4 |
|
USC Beaufort (S.C.) |
At-Large No. 2 |
|
Victoria (B.C.) |
At-Large No. 8 |
|
Wayland Baptist (Texas) |
At-Large No. 5 |
|
William Penn (Iowa) |
Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Champion |
|
William Woods (Mo.) |
American Midwest Conference Tournament Champion |
2015 Women’s Golf National Championships Individual Qualifiers (listed alphabetical by school)
|
Individual |
Qualification |
|
Jocelyn Ojala, Bethel (Ind.) |
Crossroads League Individual Medalist |
|
Sarah Gillard, Coastal Georgia |
2014 All-Tournament Honoree |
|
Kamie Rash, Kansas Wesleyan |
Unaffiliated Group - GCAC/KCAC/NSAA/RRAC Individual Medalist |
|
Kathryn Lawler, Midway (Ky.) |
Kentucky Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Individual Medalist |
|
Heather Nail, Mobile (Ala.) |
Individual At-Large |
|
Kyla Clancy, Rocky Mountain (Mont.) |
Frontier Conference Individual Medalist |
|
Paige Hartman, St. Andrews (N.C.) |
Individual At-Large |
|
Krystal Garritson, St. Francis (Ill.) |
Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference Individual Medalist |
|
Jodi Henley, Thomas (Ga.) |
Individual At-Large |
|
Sarah Hicks, William Carey (Miss.) |
Individual At-Large |