April 28, 2008

EAST LANSING, Mich. - The Michigan State women's golf team was selected to participate in the 2008 NCAA West Regional Championship, announced this afternoon on a conference call by the NCAA offices. Competition will be held May 8-10 at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club in Lincoln, Calif.

"We are excited to be selected to the NCAA regional," said Stacy Slobodnik-Stoll. "We are pleased with our bid and look forward to the opportunity ahead of us. We are ready to go to California, enjoy ourself and compete for a spot in the NCAA Championship."

Michigan State qualifies for its 10th-straight regional. The Spartans will look to build off last year's eighth place finish, after completing an impressive season so far in 2007-08. MSU just finished a second place showing at the Big Ten Championship and now have seven top-three finishes in 10 events this season. Also, MSU's three team titles is tied for second in the nation and is the most in a season since the 2001-02 campaign.

The Spartans, who are currently ranked No. 17 in the Golfweek/Sagarin ranking, are among the 21 schools selected to the west region, hosted by California State University-Sacramento. Joining MSU is No. 1 Southern California, No. 5 Arizona State, No. 7 Oklahoma State, No. 9 Arkansas, No. 13 Arizona, No. 22 California, No. 25 Stanford, No. 30 BYU, No. 33 North Carolina, No. 34 Tulsa, No. 39 Oklahoma, No. 40 San Jose State, No. 41 Ohio State, No. 42 Oregon, No. 45 UNLV, UC Davis, UC Irvine, Fresno State, Oral Roberts and Portland State.

In all, 63 schools and nine individuals were selected this afternoon, split among the west, east and central regions. The east region will be held at the University of Georgia Golf Course in Athens, Ga., while the central is host at University of Texas Golf Club in Austin.

Tee times and pairing for the three-day event will be released at a later date.

The top-eight finishers from each region will advance to the 27th NCAA Championship, held on May 20-23 at the University of New Mexico Championship Golf Course in Albuquerque, N. M. All-time, MSU has participated in eight NCAA Championships.