The University of Victoria Vikes will be one of 27 teams competing at the 2013 NAIA women鈥檚 golf national championship, beginning today and running through Friday, at Wilderness Ridge Golf Club in Lincoln, Neb.
The Vikes qualified as the No. 6 at-large berth after they earned the 12th seed in the coach鈥檚 polls. UVic is led by 2012 NAIA individual champion Megan Woodland.
Eighteen teams automatically qualified for the 19th annual championship after winning a team title in one of the NAIA鈥檚 conference, independent or unaffiliated group tournaments, while nine individual qualifiers help make up the 144-player field.
The Vikes women finished third at the Association of Independent Institutions conference championship in Victoria, Texas, after carding a team score of 615. Veterans Woodland and Brynn Tomie led the attack, as the pair tied for ninth place with a two-round score of 149.
The 2012 NAIA-champion UBC Thunderbirds dominated the conference championship, sweeping the standings with a team score of 576 to earn the AII鈥檚 lone automatic berth to the NAIA nationals.
Joining the Vikes and Thunderbirds from the AII will also be California State-San Marcos, which qualified for the No. 2 at-large berth.
The Vikes team for the NAIA nationals in Nebraska consists of Woodland, Tomie, Michaela Misener, Michaela Abey and Emily Nicol.
Misener finished 14th at the regional championship, while Abey and Nicol finished tied for 17th and 19th, respectively.
