The #10 Middlebury women's golf team has secured an at-large berth to the upcoming NCAA Championship. The four-day event commences on Tuesday, May 19 at the Desert Willow Golf Resort in Palm Desert, California.

ABOUT MIDDLEBURY

• The Panthers earned an at-large selection after finishing in the runner-up spot at the NESCAC Championship.
• Conference champion Amherst, Middlebury and Williams were separated by two strokes on the final leaderboard. The result signified the closest outcome in the league event's history.
• The Panthers appear in the national championship for the sixth time and the first in back-to-back seasons since making three straight appearances from 2007 through 2009.
• Middlebury has finished in the top-10 places on a trio of occasions, headlined by a sixth-place showing last year.
• Assistant coach Chloe Levins '20 represented the Panthers as an individual during the 2019 NCAA Championship in Houston, Texas. She claimed a share of 18th among 131 golfers with a 72-hole score of 310.

PANTHER LINEUP

• Season Wei became the first golfer in program history to secure NESCAC Rookie of the Year praise. She has recorded top-10 finishes in each of the squad's spring invitationals, including runner-up honors at the league event by one stroke. Wei also shot a career-low two-round total of 148 to tie for fourth at the Northeast Invitational.
• Making her NCAA debut after teeing off in all four invitationals this spring is Julia Hua. She has logged a pair of top-20 placements, including a seventh-place effort at the Hartford/Blackledge event (77). The first-year logged 77s in each of her three rounds at the NESCAC Championship to place 14th.
• Ella Han competes on the national stage for the second occasion in as many seasons. The three-time all-conference selection wrapped the conference weekend in a tie for 12th place at 229 (77-73-79). Her top outing also came at Wellesley's invitational, shooting one over par across the final 18 holes to jump 10 spots and share fourth at 148 (75-73).
• Touting experience at the NCAA Championship is Elizabeth Whalen. The sophomore contributed to last season's tie for sixth with a four-day total of 324 (83-80-80-81). In her lone action of the spring, Whalen shared 23rd at the Northeast Invitational (77-80).
• Cailyn Park makes her debut in the navy and white after qualifying for the final NCAA spot.

ABOUT THE COMPETITION

• Eight different squads have claimed the last 10 NCAA team titles. Last year, Emory won its second title in the last four years with a combined score of 1,168. Carnegie Mellon, the 2024 champ, claimed second (1,181), while Claremont-Mudd-Scripps rounded out the top three (1,195).
• Since the tournament's inception in 2000, Methodist has paced Division III with 14 championships, including the first 13 titles. The Monarchs' last crown came in 2021. Rhodes and Emory are the other two programs to secure multiple championships, logging three and two, respectively.
• Two conference foes also earned spots in the national championship, as Amherst won the NESCAC's automatic qualifier and Williams tallied an at-large selection. Hamilton's Aubrey Lee and Wesleyan's Amanda Phillips qualified as individual competitors.
• Emory's Carys Code returns to the field looking to defend her individual crown. The junior shot a combined three-under-par over the final 36 holes to secure the honor by two strokes over Carnegie Mellon's Cecilia Jia.
• Five other top-10 individuals, along with Code and Jia, return to the field, including fourth-place finisher Zimo Li of Emory.

CHAMPIONSHIP INFORMATION

• Location: Desert Willow Golf Club (Palm Desert, Calif.)
• Host: Claremont-Mudd-Scripps
• Live Results

The top 15 teams and six individuals following the second day of competition advance to the final two rounds of the championship.