Contact: Stan Cole

Campbell Faces Stiff Competition at NCAA East Regional Women's Golf Championship

BROWNS SUMMIT, N.C. – Seventeen of the nation's top 50-ranked women's golf programs will tee off Thursday in the NCAA East Regional Championship at Bryan Park Golf Club. Making its 12th regional appearance in the last 14 years, Campbell hopes to emerge as one of the top eight teams at the 54-hole event and continue its season at the NCAA Championship.

The Fighting Camels, who won the Atlantic Sun Conference Championship last month to claim the league's automatic regional berth, are seeded 18th in the 21-school East Regional field. Ranked number-62 nationally in the latest Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, Campbell will compete against a field that includes seven of the country's top-20-ranked schools.

Campbell will be paired with number-40 North Carolina and 49th-ranked Mississippi State on the first two days of the Regional. The schools will start Thursday at 12:30 p.m. from the par-4, 363-yard 10th tee. Friday's round will begin on the par-4, 377-yard number-one tee at 8:00 a.m. Tee times for Saturday's final round will be set according to 36-hole standings. Live scoring updates will be available on-line at www.golfstat.com.

Bryan Park's Champions Course will play to par-72 over 6386 yards.

Third-ranked Arizona State is the top-seeded team in the East Regional, followed by fourth-ranked Southeastern Conference champion Auburn. Number-nine Tennessee, 11th-ranked California, Wake Forest (13th), Vanderbilt (14th) and Virginia (18th) are also among the top seven seeds.

Campbell was one of 63 schools nationwide to earn a spot in one of three regional tournaments. Three regional tournaments will be Thursday through Saturday 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 were 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 Camels are led by A-Sun individual champion Alejandra Shaw, who is ranked number 137 nationally in the latest Golfstat Cup standings and number-163 by Golfweek. The junior from Vina del Mar, Chile owns a team-low 75.96 stroke average, has produced six top-10 performances in 10 tournaments, and was voted A-Sun Women's Golfer of the Year.

Senior Sofia Gorelik – like Shaw – will be playing in her third-straight NCAA regional. The Tandil, Argentina product has a 76.4 stroke average and is only the second player in A-Sun history to earn first-team all-conference honors four-straight years. Gorelik , who finished fourth at the Atlantic Sun Championship and is ranked number-194 by Golfweek, helped the Camels to an 11th-place showing at last year's East Regional in Gainesville, Fla.

Junior Maite Ortiz de Pinedo of Valladolid, Spain produced the sixth-best stroke average among A-Sun players in 2005-06 and earned second-team all-conference honors. She finished sixth at the conference tournament and also added her first collegiate career win last November at the Stetson Invitational.

In addition to contributions from his three all-league performers, Campbell head coach John Crooks received promising efforts from a pair of sophomores during the year.

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 as the Camels garnered their league-record seventh Atlantic Sun title (all in the last 11 years).

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.

Crooks, who is in his 15th year in charge of the Lady Camel program, was named A-Sun Coach of the Year for the seventh time since 1996. With 51 victories, Crooks ranks second among active NCAA Division I coaches in all-time wins behind only Dan Brooks of Duke (94).

The East Regional field includes 10 of the nation's top 24-ranked individuals according to the latest Golfweek poll. Second-ranked Maria Martinez of Auburn tops the field, while four players from Arizona State – Azahara Munoz (7th), Jennifer Osborn (15th), Alissa Kuczka (19th) and Tiffany Tavee (24th) – are among the nation's top-25.

2006 NCAA East Regional Field (by seed): 1. Arizona State, 2. Auburn, 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, 19. College of Charleston, 20. East Carolina, 21. Yale. Individuals: 1. Adrienne White (Louisville), 2. Christina Jones (South Florida), 3. Michelle Jarman (UNC Wilmington)