INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The McKendree women's golf program made history on Monday afternoon as the Bearcats earned a spot as a team in the 2022 NCAA Division II Women's Golf Championships as they will be one of 15 schools competing next week at the East Regional scheduled for May 2-4 at the Shoal Creek Golf Club in Kansas City, Mo.

For McKendree, it is the first time since joining the NCAA Division II ranks in 2012-13 that the Bearcats are sending a women's golf team to NCAA Regional competition. In 2019, the Bearcats sent an individual, Natasha Ainsley-Thomas to the East Regional that was held at the Pearl Club in Owensboro, Ky.

The Bearcats earned the 11th seed in this year's East Regionals as will be joined at Shoal Creek next week by fellow Great Lakes Valley Conference schools – No. 2 seeded Indianapolis, No. 4 seeded UMSL, No. 6 seeded Lindenwood, No. 10 seeded Lewis. In addition to the five schools from the GLVC, the other teams competing in the 15-team East Regional is No. 1 seeded and Great Midwest Athletic Conference champion Findlay, No. 3 seeded and Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Grand Valley State, fifth-seeded Tiffin, seventh-seeded Northwood (Mich.), eighth-seeded and Northeast-10 Conference champion Franklin Pierce, ninth-seeded Wayne State (Mich.), 12th-seeded Saginaw Valley State, 13th-seeded Ferris State, 14th-seeded and Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Champion Gannon and 15th-seeded and Mountain East Conference Champion Wheeling.

Along with 15 teams, the NCAA also chose six individuals from the region to compete next week and the individuals selected were Malone's Christina Williams, Walsh's Madison Ardelean, William Jewell's Frida Hammarlund, Trevecca Nazarene's Emma McCloskey, Illinois-Springfield's Madison DeRousse and Northern Michigan's Annie Pietila.

Each team and the six individuals will play 18 holes each of the three days of the regional for a total of 54 holes and the top five teams and the top two individuals not on one of the five advancing teams will earn a spot in the 2022 NCAA Division II Women's Golf Championships on May 10-14 at Chattahoochee Golf Club in Gainesville, Ga.

This year's National Championships will feature five teams each from the East, South and West Regionals and three teams from the Central Regional, along with the top two individuals not on an advancing team as a total of 98 participants will be included at this year's championship.  

The East Regional will begin with a practice round beginning with a shotgun start on Sunday, May 1 at Shoal Creek Golf Club. The teams and individual competitors will open play in the tournament on Monday, May 2 with tee times beginning at 8:30 a.m. through 10:50 a.m. from both the 1st and 10th tees. McKendree's five golfers will be paired with Lewis and Saginaw Valley State in the first two rounds of regional competition. In Monday's first round, they will tee off from the 10th tee beginning at 8:30 a.m. with the No. 5 golfer and continuing until the No. 1 golfer at 9:10 a.m.

In the second round on Tuesday, May 2, McKendree, Lewis and Saginaw Valley will tee off beginning at 9:40 a.m. through 10:20 a.m. from the 10th tee. The third round tee times will be based on the team's score through the first two rounds. The final tee groupings on Wednesday will begin at 10:10 a.m. through 10:50 a.m. from the No. 1 tee.

McKendree, who finished sixth in the 2022 GLVC Championships this past weekend at Annbriar Golf Club in Waterloo, Ill., enter the NCAA Regionals having won two events during the 2021-22 regular season and placing no lower than fourth in any of its 10 regular season events. The team has a scoring average of 321.70 on the season and has shot two rounds of 300 or lower on the season and has had two golfers – senior Madeline Larouere (O'Fallon, Mo./Liberty) and freshman Imogen Rafferty (Derbyshire, England/Trent College) record rounds of par or better on the year as Larouere shot a 1-under par 71 in the second round of the Bearcat Dual Gender during the fall season and Rafferty shot an even-par 72 in the first round of the Drury Lady Panther Fall Invitational.

Last season, Dallas Baptist captured the Division II national title with a 2-2-1 tiebreaking win in the championship match against Lynn University. Limestone was the top team through three rounds of stroke play at the TPC of Michigan. The individual medalist last season was Lynn's Helen Kruenzer as she shot a 6-under par 210 for 54 holes to claim medalist honors by two shots over UIndy's Pilar Echeverria.