May 12, 2012

Day 3 Results

COLUMBUS, Ohio (seminoles.com) - Florida State's Maria Salinas finished in a tie for first in the individual standings and advanced to the NCAA Championships as an individual participant but the Seminoles saw their season end as they finished in a tie for 10th place in the team standings - six strokes behind Arkansas for the eighth and final spot to advance to the National Championships. Salinas will travel as one of nine individual participants to the NCAA Championships at the Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn., May 22-25.

In becoming the first individual regional champion in school history, Salinas finished in a tie for first place with Lisa McCloskey of Southern California. Salinas birdied four of her last six holes while McCloksey bogeyed three of her last five holes to allow the two players to finish in a tie for first place. Because Salinas was the top finishing individual not on one of the top eight teams and McCloskey advanced to the championships as a member of the winning team, the tie was not broken by a playoff.

Southern California won the regional team championship and will be joined by Vanderbilt, Purdue, Tennessee, Virginia, Ohio State, NC State and Arkansas as the eight representatives from the NCAA Central Regional Championships at the NCAA Championships.

"I am heartbroken for my girls," said head coach Amy Bond. "This will always be a special team to me; they did everything that was asked of them. We just came up short - six strokes short - in our goal to advance to the National Championships. I am extremely happy for Maria who has a great shot to win a national championship. That is our next goal as a coaching staff- the help her become a national champion."

Salinas (Lima, Peru) played one of her best tournaments of her career as she advanced to the NCAA Championships for the third time in her career. Her three round tournament score is tied for the second best score of her career. She won the spring 2012 Lady Gator Invitational with a four under par score of 206. Salinas also carded a 3 under par score of 213 in finishing in second place at the spring 2011 Lady Puerto Rico Invitational.

Salinas finished with a 2 under par score of 70 in the final round of the regional championship. It marked her third score of par or better in this event and her fifth consecutive score of par or better dating back to the second round of the ACC Championship in April. Salinas has a cumulative total of even par (plus 3 at the ACC Championship and minus 3 at the NCAA Regional Championship) in her last two events. Salinas has played well since winning the Lady Gator Invitational in February; she is a total of 11 strokes over par in her last five tournaments.

Similar to her play in the second round, Salinas had to recover from a rocky start to work herself back into contention for the individual championship. She suffered a double bogey six on the par four hole No. 11 (her second hole of the day) and carded a bogey four on the par four hole No. 13 (her fourth hole of the day). She then completely reversed gears and got herself back into the race for the championship. Salinas carded six birdies over the next 14 holes (with only one bogey) to move into first place for a short time.

With a chance to win the title outright and having already finished her round, Salinas watched as McCloskey finished with a par on her final hole and the two players finished in a tie for first place.

"This is the most bittersweet moment I think I have every felt in my golfing career," said Salinas. "I am happy to be able to continue my career but to go to nationals without my team is makes me very sad. I hope this will be a lesson to my teammates for the future - every shot counts in every tournament. The goal always has to be to go to nationals as a team."

Junior Malin Jansson (Nykvarn, Sweden) played her best round of the tournament in the third round and finished with a 5 over par score of 77. She finished her first career NCAA Regional Championship with a three round total of 238. Jansson and freshman Laure Castelain (Bordeaux, France) finished tied for 75th. Senior Hannah Thomson (Perth, Australia) finished her career in a tie for 68th place in the individual standings - tied with teammate Jessica Negron (Ocala, Fla.).

2012 NCAA Central Regional Championship/May 10-12, 2012/Final Florida State Results
Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University/Columbus, Ohio/Par 72
T10/24.   Florida State       314   301   304   919
T1.       Maria Salinas       71    72    70    213
T68.      Jessica Negron      80    76    81    237
T68.      Hannah Thomson      83    75    79    237
T75.      Laure Castelain     82    78    78    238
T75.      Malin Jansson       81    80    77    238

2012 NCAA Central Regional Championship/May 10-12, 2012/Final Team Results
Scarlet Course at The Ohio State University/Columbus, Ohio/Par 72
1.   Southern California   874    13.   Ole Miss             930
2.   Vanderbilt            899    14.   Texas State          935
3.   Purdue                902    15.   Notre Dame           936
4.   Tennessee             904    16.   Michigan             937
5.   Virginia              905    17.   Kentucky             938
6.   Ohio State            908    18.   Harvard              943
7.   NC State              911    19.   South Florida        954
8.   Arkansas              913    20.   Texas San Antonio    963
9.   Oregon                914    21.   East Carolina        966
T10. Florida State         919    22.   UNC Wilmington       969
T10. Georgia               919    23.   Butler               970
12.  Auburn                922    24.   Siena                981

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