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NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championships Preview

The five competing members of the golf team for the NCAA tournament pose for a photo. At the bottom is the NCAA Golf Championships logo placed over a navy blue box.
Posted: May 17, 2024

NOTRE DAME, Ind. - The Saint Mary's golf team is poised to compete in the NCAA Division III Championships for the twelfth time in program history next week.

 

Key Links and Information

Belles Lineup

Scoring and Schedule

The championships will consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently. Following 36 holes of competition, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams and top six individuals not on one of those teams to compete the two final days. In the team competition, the low four scores from each team for each day will count in the team's total score.

Day one has the Belles scheduled to compete with Dubuque and Aurora. Saint Mary's is seeded 23rd heading into the tournament. The Belles tee off on Tuesday, May 21 for the first day of competition starting at 1:30 p.m. Colleen Hand will be the first player on the tee box for the Belles with that 1:30 tee time as Saint Mary's will begin play on hole 10. Amanda Melling has a scheduled tee time of 1:40 followed by Katelyn Tokarz (1:50), Julia Lizak (2:00), and Haley Angel (2:10). The team then begins the Wednesday, May 22 round at 9:10 a.m. from hole No. 1. 

How the Belles Arrived in Kentucky

It was a tight battle for the MIAA title from start to finish. With a new format in 2023-24, the MIAA championship and automatic qualifier was determined by six rounds of play - four jamborees scheduled for the fall, and a two-round Spring Finale tournament in April.
 
After the Belles won the opening jamboree by seven strokes, the top three spots in the league standings were separated by 13 strokes with Adrian, Saint Mary's, and Calvin holding those respective spots after 36 holes of conference competition. A win at the third jamboree by Saint Mary's gave the Belles a one-stroke lead over Adrian in what then became a two-team race for the remainder of the year. The fourth jamboree was twice rained out to set up a dramatic final week of MIAA play.
 
The Belles won the Trine Spring Classic to get valuable tournament experience at Zollner Golf Course, and that title paid off in a big way as Saint Mary's took a 13-stroke win over the field at the fourth MIAA jamboree.
 
Day one of the Spring Finale saw Adrian close the gap on the Belles with a five-stroke win as Saint Mary's held a nine-stroke overall lead going into the final 18 holes of play. Adrian held a 13-stroke lead in the round with fewer than nine holes to play, but a strong finish by Saint Mary's saw the Belles regain the overall conference lead. As the final group came off the course, the difference was two strokes in favor of Adrian for the day but amounted to a seven-stroke championship win for Saint Mary's.
 
The Field
 
The 2024 NCAA Division III Championships features 29 teams and six individuals. The teams competed are listed in seeded order with their Women's Golf Coaches Association Top 25 ranking included in parentheses after the team name when applicable.
 
Teams
  1. Carnegie Mellon University (No. 1)
  2. Pimona Pitzer Colleges (No. 2)
  3. Emory University (No. 4)
  4. George Fox University (No. 3)
  5. Williams College (No. 6)
  6. Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges (No. 5)
  7. University of Redlands (t-No. 7)
  8. Illinois Wesleyan University (t-No. 7)
  9. Washington and Lee University (No. 13)
  10. University of Texas at Dallas (No. 11)
  11. St. Catherine University (No. 12)
  12. Trinity University (Texas) (t-No. 15)
  13. New York University 
  14. Centre College (t-No. 15)
  15. Methodist University (No. 19)
  16. Grinnell College (No. 25)
  17. Denison University (received votes)
  18. Alvernia University
  19. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater (received votes)
  20. Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
  21. Ohio Northern University (received votes)
  22. University of Dubuque
  23. Saint Mary's College (Indiana)
  24. Aurora University
  25. Catholic University
  26. Marymount University (Virginia)
  27. Westminster College (Pennsylvania)
  28. Suffolk University
  29. University of Northwestern-St. Paul

Individuals

  1. Sydney Kuo, Washington University in St. Louis
  2. Carter Sichol, Carleton College
  3. Becky Williams, DePauw University
  4. Erin Donovan, Piedmont University
  5. Sarah Kmiecik, University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
  6. Emily Brubaker, University of Lynchburg