Contact: Stan Cole

Campbell Headed to Bryan Park for NCAA East Regional Women's Golf Championship

BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Campbell will remain in-state next week for the NCAA East Regional Women's Golf Championship at Bryan Park National in Browns Summit.

"I'm just excited to be able to play in the state of North Carolina, where our fans and supporters will have a chance to see our ladies play in NCAA post-season competition. Bryan Park is a great golf course, and we just look forward to the opportunity," said head coach John Crooks, who guided the Lady Camels to their 12th NCAA regional berth in the last 14 years.

Campbell was one of 63 schools nationwide to earn a spot in one of three regional tournaments. The Lady Camels won the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship on Apr. 12 to clinch the league's automatic berth in the NCAA regional.

Three regional tournaments will be conducted May 11-13 to determine the championships field. The Central Regional will be held at College Station, Texas, while the West Regional is in Auburn, Wash.

A total of 324 participants have been selected for the regional competition. Of these players, 126 will advance to the championships finals. Eight teams and two individuals will advance from each region.

The championships finals will be held May 23-26 at the Scarlet Course, Columbus, Ohio, hosted by Ohio State University.

The East regional will be played May 11-13 at the Bryan Park Golf Course, hosted by Wake Forest University. Campbell is seeded 18th in the 21-school field. Arizona State, Auburn, Tennessee, Wake Forest and California are the top five seeds.

Campbell won two tournaments during the 2005-06 season – the Stetson Invitiational and Atlantic Sun Championship – while adding a trio of runner-up showings, plus a third-place finish at the UNLV Invitational. CU is ranked 62nd in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index and 58th nationally in the most recent Golfstat NCAA head-to-head poll.

The Camels are led by A-Sun individual champion Alejandra Shaw, who is ranked number 137 nationally in the latest Golfstat Cup standings. The junior from Vina del Mar, Chile owns a team-low 75.96 stroke average and has produced six top-10 performances in 10 tournaments.

Senior Sofia Gorelik – like Shaw – will be playing in her third-straight NCAA regional. The Tandil, Argentina product has ranked among the A-Sun's top five players in stroke average in each of her four varsity seasons and holds a 76.4 mark this year. Gorelik has amassed six top-10 finishes this year, including a runner-up at the Stetson Invitational and a fourth-place performance at the Atlantic Sun Championship.

Junior Maite Ortiz de Pinedo of Valladolid, Spain produced the sixth-best stroke average among A-Sun players through the league championship. She finished sixth at the conference tournament and also added her first collegiate career win last November at the Stetson tourney.

Sophomore Emily Simpson of Rutherfordton, N.C., notched her best collegiate finish with a seventh-place tie at last month's A-Sun Championship, where she shot a collegiate career-low 71 in the final round. After playing in just three events during 2004-05, red-shirt sophomore Jaclyn Perlman of North Wales, Pa., recorded the team's fourth-best stroke average this year and notched her first collegiate win at the Pelican Preserve Invitational. Sophomore Veronika Falathova of Bratislava, Slovakia notched a sixth-place finish at the Stetson Invitational and tied for 28th at the A-Sun Championship.

Crooks, who is in his 15th year in charge of the Lady Camel program, was inducted into the National Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame in January. He is one of seven women's golf coaches all-time to guide his teams to at least 50 tournament wins. With 51 victories, Crooks ranks second among active NCAA Division I coaches in all-time wins behind only Dan Brooks of Duke, who enters the 2006 regional with 94.

NCAA East Regional Women's Golf Championship

May 11-13, 2006

Bryan Park National GC / Browns Summit, N.C.

Teams:
1. Arizona State
2. Auburn (Southeastern)
3. Tennessee
4. Wake Forest

5. California
6. Vanderbilt
7. Virginia
8. South Carolina
9. LSU

10. Florida State

11. Alabama
12. North Carolina State

13. Augusta State

14. Maryland
15. Furman

16. North Carolina
17. Mississippi State

18. Campbell (Atlantic Sun)

19. College of Charleston (Southern)
20. East Carolina (Conference USA)

21. Yale (Ivy)
Individuals:
1. Adrienne White, Louisville
2. Christina Jones, South Florida

3. Michelle Jarman, UNC Wilmington