May 7, 2012

NEWPORT NEWS, Va.--Atlantic 10 Champion George Washington and runner-up Charlotte each will compete in the NCAA Golf Championship Regionals the NCAA announced Monday. GW was the A-10's automatic qualifier while Charlotte earned an at-large selection. Xavier's Sebastian MacLean was selected to compete as an individual.

The George Washington golf team will compete at the Grandover Resort Golf Course in Greensboro,N.C., for the three-day NCAA Regionals, hosted by North Carolina-Greensboro and the Greensboro Sports Commission.

The Colonials will compete from May 17-19 in their first regional since 2006 after claiming their first-ever Atlantic 10 Championship on April 29. The Buff and Blue will compete with Auburn, UNLV, Florida, Duke, Indiana, Liberty, SMU, Texas Tech, Tulsa, Lamar, Lousiana-Lafayette, Mount St. Mary’s and Atlantic 10 foe Charlotte.

The 49ers earned their school-record eighth straight NCAA Tournament bid. Charlotte will also compete May 17-19 at the East Course at Grandover Resort in the Greensboro Regional hosted by UNC Greensboro.

Charlotte is seeded 12th in the 14-team Greensboro Regional.  Auburn, UNLV, Florida, Duke and Indiana are the top five seeds in the region, respectively.

Charlotte was led at the A-10 Championships by freshman Raoul Menard, who earned medalist honors to be named the A-10 Player of the Year and A-10 Rookie of the Year.  Seniors Paul Ferrier and Olafur Loftsson are the 49ers stroke average leaders. 

The 49ers golf team is Charlotte's first to advance to eight straight NCAA Tournaments.  The 49ers recorded back-to-back top 10 finishes in 2007 and 2008 when they tied for third and eighth, respectively, at the NCAA Championships.

MacLean, a 2012 Atlantic 10 All-Conference honoree will represent Xavier in the Michigan Regional May 17-19. The senior will be close to home, getting selected to play at the University of Michigan Golf Course in Ann Arbor, Mich.

This marks the second time in MacLean's career that he will play at the NCAA Regional. His freshman year the Santa Cruz, Bolivia, native was selected to go to The Club at Olde Stone in Bowling Green, Ky. He finished tied for 30th that season.

This marks the second consecutive season that a Musketeer will be at an NCAA Regional as 2011 Atlantic 10 Individual Champion Herbert Day went to Virginia Tech. MacLean is the first Musketeer in program history to make it to two NCAA Regionals as an individual. The only other Musketeers who have played in more NCAA Regionals are current PGA Tour player Jason Kokrak, John Streibich, and Andy Pope who participated when Xavier went as a team during the 2004, 2005 and 2006 seasons.

MacLean led the Musketeers in scoring average this season at 71.38 and earned a victory at the Bash at the Beach back in March.

Thirteen teams and ten individuals not on those teams will compete at each of three regionals while the other three regionals will have 14 teams and five individuals not on those teams. Top-30 teams and six individuals advance to the NCAA Championship, held from May 28 - June 3, at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif.