SHOAL CREEK, Ala. – Middle Tennessee makes its second consecutive NCAA Regional appearance Thursday-Saturday as the No. 14 seed at Shoal Creek in Shoal Creek, Ala.
The Blue Raiders earned the Regional berth after claiming the Conference USA Championship in Fort Myers with a 13-stroke advantage over their closest competitors.
MTSU competed in the St. George, Utah, Regional as the No. 15 seed a year ago, finishing in a tie for 13th place.
The Blue Raiders went through their final preparations during their Wednesday practice round and will take the course for round one Thursday morning.
Senior Avery George heads up the Blue Raider lineup with a team-best 73.4 stroke average on the year. She owns 11 career top five finishes and 18 top 10s as well as the lowest career stroke average in Middle Tennessee history entering her second NCAA Regional appearance.
Fellow senior Emily Miller joins George at the top of the lineup in her second career NCAA Regional appearance. Miller boasts a 73.6 stroke average in 2015-16 and is coming off of a third-place finish at the Conference USA Championship where she shot a career low 67 in the final round.
Samantha Gotcher, the MTSU record holder for 54-hole total, sits in the middle of the Blue Raider lineup and holds a 74.1 stroke average in her junior campaign. Gotcher recorded a top five finish at the C-USA Championship this season after her school-record performance of nine-under 207 on the same course in 2015.
Freshmen Hanley Long and Jenna Burris round out the MTSU Blue Raider roster in their first NCAA Regional appearances.
Long fired a one-under 215 at the C-USA Championship to finish second in the field behind only C-USA Female Golfer of the Year Meghan MacLaren (FIU). She holds a 74.9 average on the season but was third on the team in the spring with an impressive 74.2 mark.
Burris captured her first career top 10 at the C-USA Championship to build momentum heading into the Shoal Creek Regional, where she will open the tournament in the fifth spot of the lineup for Middle Tennessee. The redshirt freshman enters the Regional with a 75.0 average this season.
The Blue Raiders will tee off on hole 10 on Thursday with Burris leading the bunch at 8:24 p.m. Long will follow her before Gotcher, Miller and George each make their way to the tenth tee in nine minute intervals after Burris.
Live scoring can be found on http://www.golfstat.com throughout the tournament.
