Golf Stat Live Results

RIO VERDE, Ariz. – The Northern Arizona women's golf team will travel south to the first of five consecutive spring tournaments in the state, teeing up at the Rio Verde Invitational Friday-Sunday held at the Quail Run and White Wing courses, newly redesigned by Tom Lehman Design Group.

“Hopefully we keep it rolling since we just played four days ago,” said Head Coach Brad Bedortha. “We had a good week of practice. We are playing good golf and three of the top five played on this course last year. The goal is to keep the momentum going. I feel comfortable with the preparations we had we should be bale to keep playing well.”

The Lumberjacks will travel their full roster to the event. The playing five for the tournament will include Alexa Kim, Dakin Banta, Megan Buck, Stephanie Kim and Aleah Kim. Meghan Bremer, Bethany Leclair and Lauren Halstead will compete in the White Wing Invitational Saturday and Sunday.

The 2010 Rio Verde field consists of many returning teams as well as one new entry. Western Michigan hosts a field of 18 teams, including six fellow Mid-American Conference participants (Akron, Ball State, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan, Ohio and Toledo). Defending team champion Kansas returns looking to become the first team to win back-to-back titles in this event. Participating in the tournament for the first time is Penn State. The Nittany Lions are joined by Michigan and Minnesota from the Big Ten. Rounding out the field are Arkansas-Little Rock, Bradley, Cincinnati, Missouri State, Northern Arizona, Southern Illinois and Xavier.

This year's tournament boasts eight teams ranked in the top 100 according to GolfStat.com and two ranked in the top 75. Minnesota leads the way, ranking No. 56 followed by Michigan (No. 75) and Kansas (No. 77). Eastern Michigan is the highest ranked MAC team at No. 85.

In 2009, senior Ali Carter closed with a four-over par 75 to lead the NAU to a sixth-place finish at the Duramed Collegiate Invitational. The Lumberjacks finished with a 305 team score to finish with a three-day total of 918 to tie with Wisconsin. NAU was just four strokes back of third-place Eastern Michigan at 914 and within three strokes of Toledo (915) and Minnesota (916).

Meghan Bremer and Lauren Halstead competed in the White Wing Invitational, a tournament among the remaining individual players from the schools in the field. Bremer shot 78-75 to win the title, while Halstead was one shot back with scores of 78-76.