College Golf | UNLV frosh making storied West run

golf therese koelbaek unlv west regional

UNLV frosh making storied West run

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By LANCE RINGLER
Assistant Editor

The 21-team field at the NCAA West Regional is highlighted with individual star power. The field includes the past two NCAA individual champs in USC’s Dewi Schreefel and Arkansas’ Stacy Lewis and a total of 11 players ranked within the top 25 of the Golfweek/Sagarin College Rankings.

And then there is UNLV’s Therese Koelbaek (pictured).

The Mountain West Conference freshman of the year has toured the par-72, 6,338-yard Lincoln (Calif.) Hills Golf Club layout in a 7-under 137 total. She bettered an opening round of 69 by one shot on Day 2, to lead Arizona State’s Azahara Munoz (140) by three shots. Schreefel is in a group with two other players at 3-under 141.

“I am hitting it close and making the putts and previously I had been struggling with my putter and that’s the big difference,” said the native of Holte, Denmark.

Led by Koelbaek, the 16th-seeded Rebels are in second place trailing top-ranked USC by seven shots. The top eight teams will advance to the NCAA Championship later this month in Albuquerque, N.M.

UNLV, along with Oregon, Fresno State, UC Davis and UC Irvine, got a sneak peek at the Lincoln Hills Golf Club in early April when Sacramento State hosted the NCAA Western Regional Preview.

Koelbaek, who is ranked No. 58 individually, tied for 27th in that event with rounds of 75-76-76. She and her teammates might be using that experience to make a run at the program’s third NCAA Championship appearance in the past six years.

“It definitely helped a lot playing this course before so we are familiar with it and the whole team came in with a lot of confidence,” said Koelbaek, who won the University of San Francisco tournament to close the fall season.

Fellow Rebel Tonya Choate is also playing with a lot of confidence. Choate, a senior who transferred from Div. II Drury University where she won 12 times in three years and was named the 2006 co-national player of the year, posted her best round of the year during the second round. A 2-under 70 left Choate in a tie for eighth at even-par 144.

• • •

THE STREAK: Stanford is in seventh place and three shots clear of the cutline. The Cardinal are looking to make it 20 consecutive trips to the national championship – the nation’s longest streak – with a top-eight finish.

However, the ‘streak’ is not something that coach Caroline O’Connor talks about much.

“I don’t think our freshmen had any idea this would be 20 in a row,” said O’Connor. “It’s not something that we focus on. We just need to come out and play good golf and get it done.”

If the streak was to be in jeopardy, this would be the year. Stanford’s lineup consists of two freshmen, two sophomores and a junior. O’Connor has told her young squad they have to simply want a trip to Albuquerque as much as the next player.

“You have got to want it more than anyone else because there are teams that haven’t made it or haven’t been there in a long time and they really want it badly and we have to want it more than they do and get out and get it done,” said O’Connor.

• • •

PHOTO FINISH?: This tournament could come down to the final putts for many teams. Eleven teams are within 10 shots of each other with just 18 holes remaining. Stanford sits in seventh place at 17-over 593 and UC Irvine is in 17th place at 27-over 603.

California is one of those teams on the outside looking in, but only by a shot.

“Teams that play well deserve to go,” said California coach Nancy McDaniel. “We have not played our best here yet and today we did not get the putts to fall. This is a course that you have to make birdies on to advance and we plan to do that tomorrow.”

Tulsa opened with a 1-under 287, but the Golden Hurricanes struggled in the second round and are in eighth place.

“We put ourselves in a position yesterday, and I hate to use the word ‘bad round’, but we had a little bit of a bad round today, but thankfully we had such a good round yesterday we still have a chance to get in and it’s going to be a good day tomorrow,” said Tulsa coach Randy Keck.

• • •

LAST TEAM IN: It’s safe to say that UC Davis was the last at-large team to make the postseason field. The Aggies, ranked No. 52 in the Golfweek and Golfstat rankings, are now on the bubble to be one of the 24 teams on their way to Albuquerque for the national championship.

The Aggies are making their NCAA Division I postseason debut and will enter the final round tied for ninth place with California. After rounds of 300 and 296, UC Davis is just one shot clear of eighth-place Tulsa.

Head coach Kathy DeYoung announced her retirement early this spring and is hoping for one more event to coach.

Scores with relation to par from the second round of the NCAA Women’s West Regional, played May 9 at the par-72, 6,338-yard Lincoln (Calif.) Hills Golf Club (Note: y-playing as an individual):

TEAMS
1. USC	283-288--571		-5
2. UNLV	288-290--578	+	2
3. Arizona St.	296-285--581	+	5
4. Oklahoma St.	293-293--586	+	10
5. Arkansas	291-297--588	+	12
5. Arizona	299-289--588	+	12
7. Stanford	295-298--593	+	17
8. Tulsa	287-308--595	+	19
9. UC Davis	300-296--596	+	20
9. California	295-301--596	+	20
11. Ohio St.	299-298--597	+	21
12. BYU	295-303--598	+	22
13. Michigan St.	295-304--599	+	23
14. Oregon	303-297--600	+	24
15. San Jose St.	300-302--602	+	26
15. Oklahoma	299-303--602	+	26
17. UC Irvine	302-301--603	+	27
18. North Carolina	297-311--608	+	32
19. Fresno St.	306-306--612	+	36
20. Portland St.	308-308--616	+	40
21. Oral Roberts	310-312--622	+	46
• • •
INDIVIDUALS
1. Therese Koelbaek, UNLV	69-68--137		-7
2. Azahara Munoz, Arizona St.	69-71--140		-4
3. Dewi Claire Schreefel, USC	71-70--141		-3
3. Jaclyn Sweeney, Oklahoma St.	69-72--141		-3
3. Alison Walshe, Arizona	68-73--141		-3
6. Stefanie Endstrasser, USC	71-71--142		-2
6. Paola Moreno, USC	68-74--142		-2
8. Tonya Choate, UNLV	74-70--144		E
8. Juli Erekson, Brigham Young	72-72--144		E
8. Kristin Ingram, Arkansas	73-71--144		E
8. Jennifer Osborn, Arizona St.	72-72--144		E
12. Stacy Lewis, Arkansas	69-76--145	+	1
13. y-Danielle Cvitanov, San Fran.	73-73--146	+	2
13. Rebecca Durham, Stanford	72-74--146	+	2
13. Allison Goodman, California	71-75--146	+	2
13. Selanee' Henderson, UC Irvine	71-75--146	+	2
13. Angela King, Stanford	73-73--146	+	2
13. Kendra Little, Oregon	71-75--146	+	2
13. Belen Mozo, USC	73-73--146	+	2
13. Ellen Mueller, Oklahoma	72-74--146	+	2
21. Mary Jacobs, Arizona	76-71--147	+	3
21. Alejandra Llaneza, Arizona	78-69--147	+	3
21. Erica Moston, San Jose St.	73-74--147	+	3
21. Anna Nordqvist, Arizona St.	77-70--147	+	3
21. Sydney Roughton, UC Davis	73-74--147	+	3
21. Kate Thomas, North Carolina	70-77--147	+	3
27. Haley Brown, Ohio St.	73-75--148	+	4
27. Carling Coffing, Ohio St.	76-72--148	+	4
27. Sydney Crane, North Carolina	74-74--148	+	4
27. Tara Goedeken, Tulsa	71-77--148	+	4
27. Laura Kueny, Michigan St.	71-77--148	+	4
27. Pernilla Lindberg, Oklahoma St.	75-73--148	+	4
27. Lucy Nunn, Arkansas	74-74--148	+	4
27. Taylor Siebert, Fresno St.	73-75--148	+	4
27. Catherina Wang, Stanford	75-73--148	+	4
36. Sara Brown, Michigan St.	73-76--149	+	5
36. Michaela Cavener, Tulsa	70-79--149	+	5
36. Tammy Clelland, Oklahoma St.	74-75--149	+	5
36. Kelly Fuchik, Tulsa	71-78--149	+	5
36. Pia Halbig, California	73-76--149	+	5
36. Natasha Krishna, UNLV	71-78--149	+	5
36. Lizette Salas, USC	73-76--149	+	5
36. Shannon Yocum, California	73-76--149	+	5
44. Cathryn Bristow, Oregon	77-73--150	+	6
44. Ashley Childers, Brigham Young	72-78--150	+	6
44. Kendall Dye, Oklahoma	78-72--150	+	6
44. Felicia Eastick, Oregon	76-74--150	+	6
44. Emma Jandel, Ohio St.	76-74--150	+	6
44. Alice Kim, UC Davis	77-73--150	+	6
44. Mariko Makabe, UC Irvine	76-74--150	+	6
44. Juliana Murcia, Arizona St.	78-72--150	+	6
44. Holly Niederkohr, Michigan St.	73-77--150	+	6
44. Pamela Ontiveros, Oral Roberts	73-77--150	+	6
54. Hannah Bews, Portland St.	76-75--151	+	7
54. Christy Carter, Oral Roberts	75-76--151	+	7
54. Leisl Hasbrouck, Tulsa	77-74--151	+	7
54. Kelly Jacques, Oklahoma	74-77--151	+	7
54. In-Hong Lim, Ohio St.	74-77--151	+	7
54. Kelli Shean, Arkansas	75-76--151	+	7
54. Chelsea Stelzmiller, UC Davis	72-79--151	+	7
61. Cristina Corpus, San Jose St.	78-74--152	+	8
61. Katrina Delen Briones, San Jose St.	75-77--152	+	8
61. Kasi Lee, UNLV	74-78--152	+	8
61. Kim Lorenzana, UC Irvine	78-74--152	+	8
61. Laura Luethke, Fresno St.	77-75--152	+	8
61. Katie Sisler, UC Davis	78-74--152	+	8
61. Daphne Vines, Brigham Young	72-80--152	+	8
68. Alexia Brown, Portland St.	78-75--153	+	9
68. Mari Chun, Stanford	75-78--153	+	9
68. Alejandra Guacaneme, UNLV	79-74--153	+	9
68. Lauren Hunt, North Carolina	76-77--153	+	9
68. Natalia Jimenez, Brigham Young	79-74--153	+	9
68. Amanda Wilson, Arizona	77-76--153	+	9
74. Maria Pia Escandon, Fresno St.	77-77--154	+	10
74. Bryana Gregory, UC Davis	79-75--154	+	10
74. Kate Hildahl, Oregon	79-75--154	+	10
74. Amanda Johnson, Oklahoma St.	75-79--154	+	10
74. Woori Shin, Tulsa	75-79--154	+	10
74. Jordyn Wells, Michigan St.	78-76--154	+	10
80. Aimee Neff, Michigan St.	80-75--155	+	11
80. Kim Punyasavatsut, San Jose St.	74-81--155	+	11
80. Danielle Ranallo, Portland St.	76-79--155	+	11
80. Heather Wright, Oklahoma	75-80--155	+	11
84. Karin Kinnerud, Oklahoma St.	83-73--156	+	12
84. Roseanne Niven, California	82-74--156	+	12
84. Erica Omlid, Oregon	79-77--156	+	12
87. Jessica Gibson, Oral Roberts	80-77--157	+	13
87. Liisa Kelo, Arizona St.	78-79--157	+	13
87. Hillary Packard, UC Irvine	79-78--157	+	13
87. y-Emily Powers, Kansas	80-77--157	+	13
91. y-Mallory Blackwelder, Kentucky	75-83--158	+	14
91. Jade Bollinger, Brigham Young	79-79--158	+	14
91. Hali Coppin, Fresno St.	79-79--158	+	14
94. Alex Schulte, Arkansas	80-79--159	+	15
95. Patty Chawalitmetha, UC Irvine	77-83--160	+	16
95. Chelsea Czinski, Fresno St.	80-80--160	+	16
95. Ann Laney, North Carolina	77-83--160	+	16
95. Aubrey Vaughn, Portland St.	78-82--160	+	16
99. Jessica Hauser, Ohio St.	83-78--161	+	17
100. Kayla Morinaga, Portland St.	83-79--162	+	18
100. Andrea Waters, California	78-84--162	+	18
102. Colette Lowe, North Carolina	79-84--163	+	19
102. Piper Miller, Stanford	81-82--163	+	19
104. Emily Mason, Arizona	83-81--164	+	20
104. Kanika Minocha, San Jose St.	87-77--164	+	20
104. Megan O'Connell, Oral Roberts	82-82--164	+	20
107. Ryanne Elmer, Oklahoma	86-84--170	+	26
107. Sharon McAlpine, Oral Roberts	86-84--170	+	26

Posted: 5/9/2008

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