RESULTS | NCAA South Region Scoreboard by Clippd page
 
Gainesville, Ga.----The No. 2 Wingate University women's golf team defeated No. 14 Tampa and No. 15 North Georgia in a thrilling playoff to earn the fourth and final national championships bid at the NCAA South Regional Championship on the Chattahoochee Golf Club layout Wednesday. The Bulldogs shot a six-over-par 294 Wednesday for a 54-hole total of 27-over-par 891, setting up the playoff.
 
Freshman Olivia Meinecke led Wingate Wednesday with a three-under-par 69. Classmate Amely Bochaton had an even-par 72. The Bulldogs will advance to the national championships for the first time in school history. The NCAA Division II national championship will be held at the Boulder Creek Golf Club in Boulder City, Nevada May 13-17.
 
A closer look at the playoff
 
Wingate and Tampa finished round three prior to host North Georgia as both teams entered the club house with identical 27-over-par 891 scores. North Georgia's No. 2 and No. 1 players both birdied the 18th hole to bring the Nighthawks to 27-over-par 891 and force the three-team, 15-player showdown.
 
The sudden-death playoff began with all five golfers playing the par-four first hole. Dropping the lowest score per team, the remaining team with the lowest score would advance to the national championship. The Nighthawks and the Bulldogs outlasted Tampa on the first hole as both teams recorded five pars while the Spartans had two bogeys.
 
Wingate and UNG moved on to 18 again in a two-team playoff of the same format. The second-ranked Bulldogs survived on the second sudden-death hole with four pars and a double bogey as the Nighthawks mustered two pars and three bogeys. As darkness settled over the Chattahoochee Golf Club, Wingate celebrated its first-ever NCAA Division II women's golf national championship bid.  
 
NCAA South Region Round 3 quick hits
 
- The 294 tally moved WU up three places into a tie for fourth
- Only four South Region teams advance to the national championships site
- Meinecke had four birdies and only one blemish Wednesday
- She moved up 31 places into the top 20 at 18th for the week
- NCAA No. 1 Bochaton played solid with 16 pars Wednesday
- She finished the week in seventh place at two-over-par 218
- Fifth-year senior Jess Brown and senior Noelia Adkins closed out the team score
- Brown had three-over-par 75, while Adkins carded a six-over-par 78
- Brown and Meinecke finished three rounds at 226 and 227, respectively
- Junior Thalia Perez-Vieco also shot a 78 Wednesday 
- No. 3 Flagler won the tournament with an impressive seven-shot win
- No. 8 Nova Southeastern and No. 1 Anderson finished second and third, respectively
- Limestone's Claudia Hastings earned medalist honors with her six-under-par 210
 
Next up for the Bulldogs
 
The NCAA Division II National Championships are next for the Bulldogs, as they head west to Boulder City, Nevada and the Boulder Creek Golf Club. The tournament format is three rounds of stroke play, then the top-eight teams compete in knockout medal match play until the 2025 national champion is crowned.
 
The stroke play begins on Tuesday, May 13 and concludes Thursday, May 15 with the quarter- and semi-finals taking place on Friday, May 16. The championship match will take place on the morning of Saturday, May 17. 
 
Wingate University 
 
Wingate University is a lab of difference-making that serves more than 3,400 students in North Carolina and offers 60-degree pathways, including 37 undergraduate majors, 10 pre-professional tracks and five dual-degree programs. Graduate students choose from seven master's and five doctoral programs. The University is home to the Cannon College of Arts and Sciences, the Levine College of Health Sciences, the Byrum School of Business, the Thayer School of Education and the School of Sport Sciences.
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a leader in healthcare education where nearly one in five undergraduate students is preparing to be a pharmacist, physician assistant, physical therapist, occupational therapist or nurse. Student-athletes on Wingate's 29 teams compete in NCAA Division II and have brought home the SAC Echols Athletic Excellence Award the past 16 times it has been awarded. The University's motto is "Faith, Knowledge, Service." View current news and videos at www.wingate.edu.
 
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(Editor's note: WU graduate student Sean Addie and the University of North Georgia athletic communications office contributed information to this article.)