Women's Golf Begins Championship Quest at NCAA Las Vegas Regional

LAS VEGAS – No. 16 Arizona Women's Golf will stay in the west for NCAA Regionals for a third time in four years when it tees off at the NCAA Las Vegas Regional on Monday, May 6. Arizona, the No. 3 seed at its regional, will look to punch a ticket to the NCAA Championships by finishing in the top five of the leaderboard after 54 holes at Spanish Trail Country Club. The Wildcats will look to continue their winning ways in 2024 that saw them sweep the team and individual titles at the Gators Invitational.

"We have played some great golf throughout this season to prepare us for NCAA Regionals," said head coach Laura Ianello. "This team that has showcased its depth with a number of individual titles and Pac-12 award winners this year on top of a lot of NCAA experience. However, this team is not satisfied with what they've accomplished so far. They are driven and focused on our goal to play our best golf when it counts."

The Wildcat lineup for its week in Las Vegas features Gile Bite Starkute, Carolina Melgrati, Julia Misemer, Nena Wongthanavimok and Charlotte Back. The duo of Starkute and Melgrati earned spots on the All-Pac-12 Team while Wongthanavimok earned All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention. Wongthanavimok picked up her first collegiate win at the Gators Invitational while Starkute won the 18-hole Match in the Desert in record-breaking fashion with an 8-under round of 64.

Starkute tied the lowest round in program history at the Match in the Desert in January, which Back matched in the second round of the Pac-12 Championships in Pullman, Washington. Back, a freshman from Germany, fired her round of 64 on the same day as USC's Catherine Park to set the lowest round in Pac-12 Championships history.

Arizona won the NCAA Raleigh Regional a year ago to claim its sixth NCAA Regional championship in program history. Julia Mismer finished runner-up in Raleigh to post the best finish by a Wildcat at NCAA Regionals since Alison Walshe won the 2008 UC Davis Regional.

The five teams with the lowest score after three days in Las Vegas will advance to the NCAA Championships later this month at Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.