Colorado State University Athletics
Tournament Notes: Prendergast set to compete at NCAA West Regional
5/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
NCAA West Regional Tournament Central / Tee Times / Live Scoring
Colorado State freshman Katrina Prendergast is in Stanford, Calif., for the 2016 NCAA West Regional, participating as an individual. She is the first CSU representative since 2012, when Brianna Espinoza was selected in back-to-back seasons.
Action will take place Thursday-Saturday at the Stanford Golf Course, built in 1930 and recently rated as the third-best college course in the country. The 6,269-yard course is a par 71.
Teams participating in the West Regional include Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Michigan State, North Carolina, Ohio State, Pepperdine, Richmond, San Diego State, San Jose State, Seton Hall, Stanford, Texas Tech, UC Irvine, UNLV, USC, Virginia and Wake Forest. Other individuals include Martina Edberg (Cal State Fullerton), Paige Lee (UC Davis), Kristin Simonsen (Fresno State), Kassidy Teare (Long Beach State) and Andrea Wong (UC Davis). She will begin play Thursday at 9:20 a.m. MT, along with Lee and Simonsen. The top six teams and three individuals who are not members of the qualifying schools advance to the NCAA Championships, May 20-25 at Eugene Country Club in Eugene, Oregon.
"I'm really excited for Katrina," CSU head coach Annie Young said. "I think this shows how much hard work she's put in this season, and I think the biggest thing for her is how she's adjusted to college. She's your all-around student-athlete and she does what she needs to do to be successful."
Prendergast impressed the selection committee by her sensational freshman season, which included a second-place finish at the Mountain West Championship in April and a spot on the All-Mountain West second team. Her current season stroke average of 73.63 is on pace to set a school record. She also tied a school record with a 5-under 67 during the first round of the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown in October, and finished the tournament with a 6-under 210, the third-best tournament score in school history. She has posted top-20 finishes in each of her past six tournaments, and seven times overall, and led the Rams in seven of nine tournaments this season.
Brianna Espinoza is the most-recent individual qualifier for the Rams, being selected in back-to-back seasons in 2011 and 2012. Coincidentally, CSU's last team NCAA Regional appearance, in 2010, was also played at Stanford.
As a team, CSU's season stroke average of 297.72 in 2015-16 is a school record by more than four strokes. The Rams also set a school record with a 15-under 849 at the Las Vegas Collegiate Showdown and had four of the top-10 single-round scores in CSU history this season.
"This is a huge step for our program," Young said. "Players coming in can look to what she's done and have that goal. If you have every player have the goal of making regionals individually, the team will get there. It's a step in the right direction for everyone.
If you ask Katrina today, she would rather have all of her teammates there with her rather than being by herself. Hopefully this will propel us to that next year."
Players Mentioned
