The University of Alabama at Birmingham Athletics
Mangan Earns Unprecedented Invitation To NCAA East Regional
4/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
April 25, 2005
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UAB senior women's golfer Brooke Mangan has been selected to compete as an individual in the NCAA East Regional Golf Tournament, the NCAA Women's Golf Regional Selection Committee announced Monday. Mangan joined two other golfers from the southeast region as at-large individual selections in the tournament, which will take place May 5-7 in Gainesville, Fla.
The selection is a first for UAB, which has sponsored varsity women's golf since the 1984-85 season.
"What an outstanding accomplishment for Brooke and for our program," UAB head women's golf coach Kim Wilcox said. "Anytime someone does something that has never been done before, it elevates your program to a new level. Brooke has done nothing but elevate our program from the time she first teed off for UAB. She is very deserving of the opportunity to show she is one of the top women's golfers in the country."
"It's pretty exciting I'm looking forward to going down there and playing some good golf," Mangan said. "I think my chances are pretty good if I can get some practice rounds in between my final exams."
The NCAA East Regional is made up of 21 teams, plus three individuals not on those teams. Mangan was joined by Adrienne White and Meghan Little of fellow C-USA member Louisville as the three at-large participants. The low eight teams and low two individuals not on those teams in the three regional competitions move on to the NCAA National Championships in Corvallis, Ore., May 17-20.
Mangan was named First Team All-Conference USA after a senior season in which she recorded a average of 75.31 strokes per round. She had 10 top-20 and seven top-10 finishes on the year, a pair of individual tournament titles at the Buffalo Rock Southern Shootout hosted by Birmingham-Southern in February, and the John Kirk/Lady Panther Intercollegiate at Georgia State in October. She also set the UAB record for low-18 hole round with a four-under-par 68 at the Taco Bell Intercollegiate at East Carolina in October as well.
Mangan was recently named to the 10-person Conference USA All-Decade Team honoring the top 10 women's golfers in the 10-year history of the league. She earned all-conference honors in all four seasons, earning all-freshman team honors in 2002, back-to-back third team all-conference selections in her sophomore and junior seasons and a this year's first team nod. She also placed in the top-10 in the league tournament in three of her four years.
The Mornington, Australia, native owns a school-record three individual tournament titles and owns four of the seven lowest career rounds in school history. She graduated in December with a bachelor's degree in accounting from UAB and is enrolled in graduate school in that same area of study.
