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MWC Championships Up Next For SDSU Women's Golf
April 16, 2008
SDSU's MWC Championship Press Release in PDF Format
MWC Championships Up Next For SDSU Women's Golf The event moves to the Southwest after two seasons at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club in St. George, Utah (2006-07), five years at the Sunriver Resort in Oregon (2001-05) and the inaugural campaign at the Sunbrook Golf Club in St. George in 2002. This is the first year the MWC championships will be held at a school's home course. The Aztecs will be looking to improve on their sixth-place performance in the same tournament a year ago, facing a field of four schools ranked among the top 50 in the nation, including defending champion No. 33 TCU. Schools will play 18 holes each of the three days, following a practice round Wednesday afternoon. The Aztecs will be paired with BYU and New Mexico in group No. 3 for the first round, starting at 10:10 a.m. MT from the first tee.
Aztec Line-Up For This Week Junior Jackie Kazarian (Dana Point, Calif.) played at both the 2005 and 2007 MWC tournaments, placing 26th and 27th, respectively. Fellow team captain Maki Kamimura (West Covina, Calif.) is also competing in her third conference championship, taking 19th in 2007, and 13th in 2006, when she was the Aztecs' top golfer. The three other SDSU participants are all making their MWC debuts. Redshirt sophomore Petra Cole (San Diego, Calif.) is second on the team in spring stroke average at 79.27, and posted a career-best 6-over 222 in the most recent tournament in Sacramento. True freshmen and San Diego-area natives, Samantha Roberts (Carlsbad, Calif.) and Stephanie Arcala (Oceanside, Calif.), round out the starting five.
The Competition The Aztecs have two victories in head-to-head results versus Wyoming (2-1), but are a combined 0-3 versus both Colorado State (0-2) and UNLV (0-1) this season. SDSU has not been in a tournament field thus far in 2007-08 with BYU, New Mexico or TCU. Individually, five of the top 10 finishers from last year's MWC tournament return, including medalist Jodi Ewart from New Mexico, who won by one stroke with a 7-over 220. The MWC is well represented in this year's individual national rankings with No. 26 Valentine Derrey (TCU) and No. 36 Ewart in the top 50 golfers.
SDSU In The MWC Tournament Last season, the Aztecs took sixth with a 104-over 956, after competing with just four golfers in the first round when then senior Jamie Oliver was forced to withdraw due to illness. SDSU was fifth in 2003, 2005 and 2006, placed fourth in 2004 and was runners-up in both 2001 and 2002. The Aztecs were disqualified in the inaugural tournament in 2000, after two players turned in incorrect score cards in the third and final round. Individually, the highest SDSU finish came in 2002, when Heather Rollo tied for second place with a 218, just two strokes out of first. Jenna Wilson owns the school record for the best score in a 54-hole conference tournament with a two-over par 215 in 2004. Mountain West History Lesson • New Mexico dominated the first four years of the MWC championship, claiming the team title by at least 11 shots in each of the first three years before coming back to defeat UNLV in 2003 by one stroke. The Lady Rebels got their revenge, knocking off the Lobos by two strokes in both 2004 and 2005 to claim the conference championship. UNLV captured its third straight title in 2006, while TCU won by one stroke over BYU in 2007. • Four different schools have had a player win the individual title, including UNLV (2004, 2005, 2006), New Mexico (2001, 2003, 2007), Colorado State (2002) and Wyoming (2000). • The first MWC championship took place at the Sunbrook Golf Club in St. George, Utah. The tournament then moved to Sunriver the next five seasons, however, the first round of the 2003 event was played at the Awbrey Glen Golf Course in Bend, Ore., due to inclement weather. • The course yardage has topped 6,000 eight times with the longest being 6,312 in 2005. • New Mexico and UNLV own all but two of the 12 MWC championship records.
MWC Championship Results
Last Time Out: Sacramento State Preview SDSU's 914 is the team's best performance in a 54-hole event this season by two strokes. Combined with their 301 on the opening day, the Aztecs logged their best back-to-back rounds (603) since the 2004 Mountain West Conference championships when they combined for a 584 in the final 36 holes. Both Cole and Kazarian posted even-par 72s in the final 18 holes, including two birdies apiece, to tie for the third-best round of the day in the 104-player field. Cole fired a career-best score for the second day in a row, tying for 11th place at 6-over 222. Cole's 54-hole effort is a career-low by 11 strokes and topped her season-best by 24 strokes. Kazarian, meanwhile, jumped from 41st to 21st place with a 9-over 225, easily her best career score in a 54-hole tournament, topping her previous low of 231 at the UNLV Spring Invite last March. Aztec junior Maki Kamimura also moved up 15 spots on the individual leaderboard into a tie for 40th place at 16-over 232, following her second consecutive 5-over 77. Senior Kim Carmody (Palatine, Ill.) was at 5-over par entering her final two holes, but double-bogeyed both the par-4 sixth and par-3 7th to tied for 72nd place with a 239. Freshman Samantha Roberts was unable to match her dramatic 10-stroke turnaround from the first to the second rounds on Monday, finishing with an 82 to tie for 75th at 24-over 240.
Up Next Each of the three regional tournaments will include 21 teams and three individuals, not on those teams. The participants will be selected by the NCAA women's golf committee and are announced on April 28. The top eight teams and two individuals (not on those teams) from each region will advance to the NCAA championships, May 20-23, in Albuquerque, N.M.
Head Coach Felicia Brown
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