The Arizona women's golf team found out yesterday where it will be playing in the NCAA Regional tournament, and the destination is pretty Normal.
The Wildcats will be teeing it up at the 6,500-yard Illinois State University Golf Course in Normal, Ill., beginning May 6, as the third seed in the Central Regional.
Head coach Greg Allen said even though the Wildcats have to travel over a time zone, at least they aren't heading all the way to the Atlantic.
"I think we would have liked to stay West," he said. "But last year we went East and had a three-hour time change."
The Wildcats are the third seed behind top-seed Vanderbilt and second-seeded New Mexico.
The 20-team field also includes Pac-10 rival Southern California, which received a four seed.
Allen says his team's chances of advancing to the NCAA Tournament are pretty good, because the team seems to be playing its best at the end of the year.
"I feel good about our chances," Allen said. "We're starting to peak at the right time and Lani (Elston), Cassandra (Kirkland) and Erica (Blasberg) are all playing well."
The NCAA Regional tournament decides whether a team advances to the big dance.
A team has to finish in the top eight of the three-day event to advance to the NCAA Championships held this year in Auburn, Ala.
Allen says that while their goal is a top eight finish, anything in the top four would be that much more helpful when the team heads to Auburn at the end of May.
"Finishing in the top four would be good because it would give us the ideal pairing (at the NCAAs)," he said.
In the NCAA Championships, tee times are split between the morning and afternoon, with the top four seeds from all three regions staying together and the bottom four seeds taking the opposite tee times.
Allen says staying with the top seeds is very important.
"We want to play with those top seeds at nationals because we'll all play in the same conditions," he said.
Arizona joins eight other Pac-10 teams advancing to regional competition.
The other two regions will be played in Stanford, Calif., and Howey-in-the Hills, Fla.