The University of Denver women’s golf team has claimed its third Sun Belt Conference championship in as many years. Under the guidance of Head Coach Sammie Chergo the DU women are going to the NCAA West Regional tournament for the fifth consecutive year.
Chergo was named Sun Belt Conference Coach of the Year for the second time in her career at DU. She has been at DU for nine seasons and was instrumental in creating the team at DU. She has seen her team grow from an idea to an established team that has claimed the conference championship three years in a row. Not only has her team made it to the NCAA regional five years in a row but this year four of her eight golfers are freshmen. One of them, Katie Kempter, finished second overall in the conference championship after losing in a playoff to Middle Tennessee’s Taryn Durham.
Kempter, and fellow freshmen Dawn Shockley and Junior Emily Hoeper were named to the All-Sun Belt Conference team. Hoeper was named to the team for the third time while Kempter and Shockley received the honor for the first time.
The other members of the team are senior Kari Broshko, freshman Sara Djos, sophomore Charly Hoehn, junior Devon Unkeless and freshman Jessica Yam.
This season the Pioneers have three first-place finishes and many more top 10 finishes.
The Pioneers will compete against teams from Stanford, UCLA, Colorado State, Arizona, Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Georgia and several others in the regional tournament. Last year DU placed 20th in the regional tournament while Hoeper finished in 14th place, which marked the best ever finish in the regional tournament for a DU golfer.
The top eight teams in the regional tournament move on to the NCAA championship to compete for the national title and DU is hoping for its first ever chance to compete in the NCAA tourney.
The NCAA West Regional takes place from May 11 to May 13 in Auburn, Wash. where the University of Washington will host. The NCAA championship will then run from May 16 to May 19 in Columbus, Ohio where the host school will be Ohio State.
The men’s team finished the season last week at the SBC Championships where they finished in seventh place out of 10 teams.
Senior James Love led the way for the Pioneers with a 2-under par score of 214 to finish tied for third place.
The men are still waiting to hear word on whether they have qualified for the NCAA tournament.
