THIS WEEK: Freshman Alivia Brown will represent the Washington State women’s golf team at the 2015 Division I Women’s Golf St. George Regional Championships, May 7-9…Brown was selected to the tournament as an individual, becoming the first Cougar women’s golfer since 2007 to appear in the postseason…BYU will serve as host for the 54-hole championships.
THE COURSE: The NCAA St. George Regional will take place at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George, Utah…the course will play at par 71 with a 6,255-yard track…competitors will play 18 holes each day with tee times beginning at 8 a.m. MT (7 a.m. PT).
THE FIELD: Eighteen teams will compete at the regional, including Albany, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Denver, Miami (Fla.), Middle Tennessee State, NAU, New Mexico State, SDSU, SMU, Stanford, TCU, UNLV, USC, Vanderbilt, Virginia, and Wisconsin…in addition, six individuals will be competing, including Alivia Brown (Washington State), A Ram Choi (Portland State), Lea Garner (BYU), Meghan MacLaren (FIU), Kassidy Teare (Long Beach State), and Savannah Vilaubi (UC Riverside).
ABOUT ALIVIA BROWN: A native of Gig Harbor, Wash., Brown competed in all 11 tournaments for the Cougars this season…her 74.24 average is the lowest by a freshman in school history and ranks as the third-lowest overall…Brown becomes the first Cougar freshman to compete as an individual in the postseason in WSU history…Brown’s 5-under par (68) at the Pac-12 Preview ties for the second-lowest round in program history.
HEAD COACH KELLI KAMIMURA SAYS: ”I’m excited for Alivia. She’s a hard worker and a great representative of WSU. This is a great experience for her to have as a freshman.”
RESULTS: Live results will be available during tournament play at golfstat.com. Tournament results will be posted at wsucougars.com at the end of each day of competition.
LAST TIME AT REGIONALS: Washington State makes a return to the postseason for the first time since 2007 when the Cougars qualified for the NCAA West Regional as a team under head coach Walt Williams…coincidentally, the tournament was also held in St. George, Utah…the Cougars finished 11th in the event, missing a berth to the national championships by six strokes…freshman Diana Hong (224, +11) led WSU, finishing tied for 19th.
LAST TIME ON THE GREEN: The Cougars traveled to Boulder, Colo., April 20-22 for the 2015 Pac-12 Women’s Golf Championships…WSU finished 11th with a three-round 901 (+49)…freshman Alivia Brown and senior Kristen Rue carded a 223 (+10) and finished tied for 32nd place.
COUGS CARDING HIGH MARKS IN THE CLASSROOM: For the fifth-consecutive semester, the WSU women’s golf team received the Glenn Kranc Academic Award, given to the WSU program with the highest semester GPA…the team boasted a 3.50 GPA for the fall 2014 semester, bringing its average cumulative GPA to 3.47, the highest of WSU’s athletic programs.
COACHING STAFF: Washington State is led by Head Coach Kelli Kamimura in her fifth season…a native of Burlington, Wash., Kamimura spent six seasons with Pepperdine prior to her arrival at WSU…the Cougars are assisted by WSU alumna Emma Betland in her first season…Betland competed for the Cougars from 2010-13.
