Daytona Beach, Fla. - The Stetson women's golf team wrapped up its third consecutive NCAA East Regional appearance on Saturday at LPGA International's Legends Course, finishing 19th out of 24 teams at 59 over par for 54 holes. Sophomore Alexandria Buelow (Palm City, Fla.) shot even par 72 in the final round and tied for 31st overall.
Buelow came in at six over par for the week, five strokes off the cut line for individual advancement to the NCAA Championships. Jessica Negron of Florida State (even par) and Caroline Powers of Michigan State (+1) took those two slots with Powers defeating FSU's Maria Salinas in a one-hole playoff.
Stetson, which co-hosted the 2011 NCAA East Regional with the Central Florida Sports Commission, recorded its third straight finish of solo or tying for 19th place in the postseason. Freshman Ryan Ashburn (Largo, Fla.) shot 77, freshman Mallory Viera (Howey-in-the-Hills, Fla.) had a 79 and junior Lauren Cate (St. Augustine, Fla.) carded 82 for Stetson's other counting scores today; freshman Sammi Smith (Louisville, Ky.) shot 84 for the drop score. Cate and Viera each finished +17 for the tournament with Ashburn coming in at +23 and Smith at 29 over par.
Stephanie Meadow (-9) and her Alabama Crimson Tide (+2) claimed the individual and team championships. Meadow won medalist honors by six strokes over California's Pia Halbig while Alabama finished two strokes ahead of North Carolina in the team race. Besides the Crimson Tide and Tar Heels, Arizona State (+7), Coastal Carolina (+12), California (+14), defending national champion Purdue (+15), Florida (+16) and Vanderbilt (+26) all advanced to the NCAA Championships two weeks from now in College Station, Texas. Vanderbilt needed to survive a five-on-five playoff against Florida State to claim the eighth and final spot.
TCU (+29), Michigan State (+30), Louisville (+35), Auburn (+39), Ole Miss (+42), UNC Wilmington (+50), Texas Tech (+53), Augusta State (+54) and Colorado (+55) also edged out the Hatters (+59) with Kentucky (+63), FIU (+65), Yale (+66), Fairleigh Dickinson (+95) and Alabama State (+141) rounding out the field.
Stetson is slated to return its entire starting lineup, including two-time Atlantic Sun Player of the Year Buelow and Second Team All-Atlantic Sun selections Cate and Viera in 2011-12.
