Moving On

DU women headed to Tallahassee for NCAA DI Regionals; 4 Colorado men’s teams will compete in DII Regionals at Pueblo CC

By Gary Baines – 4/27/2022

With the NCAA Division I men’s selections still upcoming — on May 4 — six Colorado-based college golf teams have been selected to compete in NCAA Regionals — one on the DI level and five at DII.

On Wednesday, the University of Denver women, who just won their 17th league title in their last 18 such championships, learned they will be the eighth seed out of 12 teams in a regional in Tallahassee, Fla., set for May 9-11. DU is ranked 46th nationally by Golfstat and 50th by Golfweek. South Carolina will be the top seed in Tallahassee. The top four finishers from the regional will advance to the national championships, May 20-25 in Scottsdale, Ariz.

Also making regionals, but as an individual, is Loveland resident Lauren Lehigh. The two-time state high school individual champion, who plays for the University of New Mexico, will stay in-state, competing in Albuquerque. In addition, Boulder resident Kelsey Webster and her Oregon State team will play in the Franklin, Tenn., Regional as the No. 5 seed.

Meanwhile, NCAA Division II regional berths went out earlier, with four local men’s teams headed for the combined South Central/West Regional that Pueblo Country Club is hosting May 5-7. Earning berths were host team Colorado State University-Pueblo, the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference champion, Colorado Christian, Colorado-Colorado Springs and Colorado Mesa. In addition, Darren Edwards from Fort Lewis will compete at regionals as an individual.

From the Pueblo Regionals, at least three teams and the top two players not on those teams will advance to the national championships, May 16-20 in Detroit. Then eight other schools will join them.

On the women’s DII side, Colorado Christian landed a regional spot as it will play May 2-4 in Stockton, Calif. CCU is seeded 11th out of the 12-team field.

About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. He was voted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2021. Email: ColoradoGolfJournal@mac.com)