Caroline Westrup is amng the leaders after one round of the NCAA East Regional Championship.

Seminole senior within four strokes of top three in individual standings.

May 7, 2009

GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Florida State senior All-American Caroline Westrup is in a tie for 23rd place in the individual standings and the Seminoles are in tie for 16th place in the team standings after the first round of the NCAA East Regional Women's Golf Championship at the Mark Bostick Golf Course at the University of Florida. The Seminoles are competing in the 21-team field looking to earn at top eight team finish in order to qualify for the NCAA championship finals at Caves Valley Golf Course in Owings Mills, Md., May 19-22.

Westrup, who is looking to earn her way into the NCAA championship finals for the fourth time in her career, needs to finish as one of the top two individuals not on one of the top eight teams to advance as an individual entrant into the championship finals. She is currently tie for seventh among the top individuals whose teams are not in the top eight in the team standings after the first round.

East Carolina, which is ranked 37th in the GolfStat Cup Standings, is in first place in the team standings and holds a one stroke lead over No. 6 ranked Alabama. The Pirates finished the first round at three strokes over par and are the highest placing of the 16 teams who are ranked in the top 50 in nation currently playing in the East Regional championship. The highest ranked team in the event - No. 3 Virginia - is in fifth place in the team standings. East Carolina teammates Abby Bools and Ana Maria Puche are tied for first in the individual standings with identical scores of two under par 70.

Westrup (Ahus, Sweden) led the Seminoles with a three-over par score of 73. She carded three birdies (all on her back nine) and nine holes of par in her first round. Westrup finished her round on holes 1-9 and was even par on those holes with three birdies. She had pulled to within one stroke over par before earning bogeys on two of her last three holes to finish at three over par.

Westrup is a cumulative total of minus nine strokes under par in 10 NCAA regional championship rounds during her career. She has earned three top five finishes in her three previous regional appearances and begins the second round only three strokes out of the top 10 and four strokes out of the top three.

"I feel like I played well but I had a little trouble with my putting in the first round," said Westrup. "I am looking forward to playing early on Friday morning with good greens. We can make a move up the leader board on Friday -- I am very confident of that."

Sophomore Macarena Silva (Santiago, Chile), who is competing in her second career NCAA regional championship, is in a tie for 67th place after carding a score of 77. She carded two birdies and eight holes of par during her first round. Silva was playing the round as the Seminoles' No. 1 player after finishing at Florida State's individual leader at the ACC Championship.

Junior Lacey Agnew (Jonesboro, Ga.) and freshman Hannah Thomson (Perth, Australia) and Whitney Wenglasz (Oldsmar, Fla.), who are all making their first NCAA regional appearances, carded scores of 79, 78 and 80 respectively.

"We had a bit of a shaky start," said head coach Debbie Dillman. "It will be nice to have the smooth early morning greens tomorrow. We need to make up enough ground to get into the top 12 going into the final day and we are only five shots off of that pace.

"The old saying is `how do you eat an elephant - one bite at a time.' We've just begin to eat," she said.

Florida State will being play in the second round of the event at 7:30 a.m. on Friday morning. The Seminoles are paired with the College of Charleston and UCF. The 54-hole event is scheduled to run through Saturday.

NCAA East Regional Championship/Mark Bostick Golf Course
Gainesville, Fla./May 7-9, 2009/Par 70/First Round Florida State Results
T16/21.  Florida State        307
T23.     Caroline Westrup     73
T67.     Macarena Silva       77
T73.     Hannah Thomson       78
T81.     Lacey Agnew          79
T90.     Whitney Wenglasz     80

NCAA East Regional Championship/Mark Bostick Golf Course
Gainesville, Fla./May 7-9, 2009/Par 70/First Round Team Results
1.   East Carolina       283  12.   Charleston         302
2.   Alabama             284  13.   Auburn             304
3.   Vanderbilt          286  T14.  Florida            305
4.   Denver              287  T14.  Furman             305
5.   Virginia            290  T16.  Florida State      307
6.   North Carolina      291  T16.  Ole Miss           307
T7.  Tulane              292  18.   South Carolina     308
T7.  Tennessee           292  T19.  UCF                309
9.   Georgia             297  T19.  Stetson            309
10.  Duke                298  21.   Jackson State      324
11.  Coastal Carolina    301