Minnesota Women’s Golf: McCauley and Mesones to Compete at NCAA Regionals this week

The Minnesota Gophers women’s golf team will have a pair of members teeing off Monday morning at the NCAA Westfield Regional taking place at The Club at Chatham Hills Golf Course in Westfield, IN. A pair of freshmen, Bella McCauley and Luisamariana Mesones will be the first Gophers to compete at an NCAA Regional since 2017 when Emie Peronnin finished in a tie for 56th.

McCauley comes in red hot after finishing tied for second in the Big Ten Championships two weeks ago. She has had a great freshmen season earing Big Ten Second Team Honors after five top-10 finishes and an additional top-20 finish in her freshman season. McCauley averaged a team-low 72.86 and has had her individual score count for the team in all 29 rounds played. Her round of 63 earlier this season is the second-lowest score in school history a(nd she is ranked 93rd individually by Golf Stat.

Mesones had a great start to her freshmen year earing back to back runner up finishes at the Runner-Up in the Lady Paladin Invitational and the Evie Odom Invitational which earned her back to back Big Ten Golfer of the Week Honors. She set the Gophers record for lowest single round score not once but twice, first shooting at 64 at the Lady Paladin Invitational and then a week later shooting a 62 at the Evie Odom Invitational. IN that tournament she not only set the Minnesota scoring record for 18 holes, but for 36-holes (130), and 54-holes (203) as well.

McCauley and Mesones will join athletes from 16 different universities in Indiana. There are twelve teams and four other individuals competing at the regional. The top five teams and low individual not on an advancing team will advance to the NCAA Championships in Scottsdale, Arizona May 19-24. So there is a one in three chance one of the Gophers will make it to Scottsdale.

McCauley and Mesones will play in the same group for the first round along with Louisville’s Carlen Griffiths. They will be the final group going off of the first hole at 8:50 AM Monday morning. Live tats for their round can be found HERE. Rounds two and three will continue on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Good luck to them as they try and make it to the NCAA Championships!