LITTLE ROCK — GOLF Podzielinski paces Arkansas
The Arkansas women’s golf team shot 301 on Wednesday and is in 20th place at 28-over 604 at the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship being played at the Vanderbilt Legends Club in Franklin, Tenn.
Redshirt sophomore Emily Podzielinski had an eagle in her even-par round of 72 to lead Arkansas in the second round. She is tied for 64th overall with a 78-72-150 for the tournament, which concludes Friday. Podzielinski made the turn at 3 under with two birdies, a bogey and her eagle on the ninth hole.
“I just can’t say enough about Pods today,” Arkansas Coach Shauna Estes-Taylor said. “She really hung in there. She committed to the game plan and executed well today, and it was great to see. I think 72 out here in her first national championship is a really great round of golf.”
Sophomore Emily Tubert shot 74 and is tied for 32nd at 147 (73-74), and sophomore Emma Lavy finished the day tied for 75th overall at 152 (75-77).
Junior Victoria Vela is tied for 100th overall with a 155 (77-78), and freshman Hally Leadbetter is tied for 117th at 159 (79-80).
Second-ranked Alabama leads the field with a two-day total of 571 after going 3 under Wednesday. Top-ranked UCLA, No. 6 North Carolina and No. 27 Virginia are tied for second at 582, followed by No. 5 Arizona State and No. 25 South Carolina tied for fifth with 583.
TRACK AND FIELD UA men, women off to West Regional
Arkansas’ fourth-ranked men’s track and field team will have 35 entries in the NCAA West Regional meet in Austin, Texas.
The competition, which runs today through Saturday at Texas’ Mike Myers Stadium, brings the top 48 qualifiers in each event for preliminary rounds, and the top 12 finishers advance to the national meet June 6-9 in Des Moines, Iowa.
Arkansas’ women, ranked 13th after a third-place finish at SEC, will have 25 competitors this week.
The men are coming off an SEC title - completing the conference “Triple Crown” with victories in cross country, indoors and outdoors - and have seven athletes or relay teams ranked among the top 10 nationally. Indoor national champion pole vaulter Andrew Irwin and long jumper Raymond Higgs have the top marks in the nation.
Arkansas has three decathletes who have already qualified for the national meet and do not have to go through the preliminary rounds in Austin.
The women will be led by two-time indoor national champions Tina Sutej, who has the best clearance in the nation but finished second on misses at the SEC meet. Last year, Sutej finished second at outdoors.
Regina George in the 400-meter dash, Kristen Gillespie in the 1,500 and the 400 relay team have top-five national qualifying marks.
- Marty Cook
Sports, Pages 25 on 05/24/2012