CU women will send a full team to NCAA Div. I Regionals for first time since 2018; DU women see their 23-year regional-berth streak snapped; Eva Pett, who grew up in Denver, qualifies as individual
By Gary Baines
Two long streaks ended on Wednesday for Colorado-based women’s NCAA Division I golf programs:
— The University of Colorado women qualified a full team for an NCAA DI Regional for the first time since 2018.
— Meanwhile, the University of Denver women failed to earn a team berth in the NCAA Regionals for the first time since 2001, snapping a run of 23 straight regional appearances that started in 2002. (Note: NCAA Regionals — or the national championships — weren’t held in 2020 due to Covid safety concerns.)
NCAA regional berths, site assignments and seedings were announced on Wednesday afternoon on Golf Channel. That was a day after DU finished second to South Dakota State in the Summit League tournament, where the winner earned an automatic NCAA regional spot. It was just the second time in their last 22 league golf tournaments that the Pioneers hadn’t claimed the title. And with a national ranking of 121st among women’s DI teams, garnering one of the 43 at-large regional spots wasn’t in the cards.
But the CU women were among the 72 teams to advance to regionals, which are set for May 11-13. Specifically, the Buffs are headed to Waco, Texas, where they’ve been seeded ninth out of 12 teams. Texas A&M, ranked fourth nationally, is the top seed in that region, while host Baylor is seeded fifth.
CU had failed to send a full team to regionals for the past six times they’ve been held — though Buff golfers have competed only as individuals at regionals on a few occasions in the interim. In 2018, when the Buffs last had a full team tee it up at regionals, they went on to qualify for the national tournament, finishing 19th.
Now in their second season under head coach Madeleine Sheils, the 2025-26 Buffs have posted two team victories — marking the first time since 2011-12 that CU has notched more than one team win in a season. The Buffs prevailed at the Ptarmigan Ram Classic in September and the Causeway Invitational in February. The Ram Classic victory was the CU women’s first team win in eight years.
Despite a last-place finish last week at the Big 12 tournament, CU is ranked 51st nationally in women’s DI golf.
Also landing spots in women’s DI regionals are some teams with significant Colorado ties. Kansas, coached by Heritage High School graduate and former DU head coach Lindsay Kuhle, is seeded seventh in Ann Arbor, Mich. Estes Park High School grad Dawn Shockley, who led DU to the NCAA East Regional title in 2009, will take her Oregon State team to Stanford, Calif., where it’s seeded ninth.
And Eva Pett, who grew up in Denver and helped lead Colorado Academy to the 3A state high school team title in 2019, will play as a senior for the University of San Francisco in the Stanford Regional. Pett won the individual title at the Causeway Invite and has collected four other top-10s this season.
The top five team finishers — and the top individual not on those teams — at each of the six regional sites will advance to the NCAA national championships, set for May 22-27 in Carlsbad, Calif.
— Elsewhere in college golf for Colorado-based programs: The University of Northern Colorado men used a strong final round (9 under par) to place third out of six teams in the Big Sky Conference Championship in Litchfield Park, Ariz. For the 54-hole event, the Bears ended up at 6 under, 17 behind champion Sacramento State. Junior Kaelen Dulany (74-69-66) led the way for UNC by placing third individually out of the 28 players who completed three rounds. SCORES … The CU men, ranked No. 46 in the nation among DI programs, struggled collectively at the Big 12 meet at Prairie Dunes in Hutchinson, Kan., finishing last out of 16 teams. The Buffs ended up at 49 over par for four rounds as Oklahoma State claimed the title at 10 under. SCORES
About the Writer: Gary Baines has covered golf in Colorado continuously since 1983. He was a sports writer at the Daily Camera newspaper in Boulder, then the sports editor there, and has written regularly for ColoradoGolf.org since 2009. The University of Colorado Evans Scholar alum was inducted into the Colorado Golf Hall of Fame in 2022. He owns and operates ColoradoGolfJournal.com