West Virginia daily

By Andrew Joyner / Daily Progress staff writer April 26, 2005

Virginia women's golf coach Jan Mann was hoping to reach the NCAA Regional in year three of her five-year plan.

By those guidelines, the Cavaliers are ahead of schedule.

In just its second season of existence, the Virginia women earned a berth into the 2005 NCAA Women's Golf Championship when the selections were announced Monday. The No. 8 seed Cavaliers are one of 21 teams to be invited to the East Regional on May 5-7 in Gainesville, Fla.

A total of 63 teams made the NCAA field with 21 teams participating in one of three regionals. The other two NCAA regional sites are Lubbock, Texas (central) and Las Cruces, N.M. (west). The National Championship is slated for May 17-20 at the Sunriver Resort in Sunriver, Ore.

"I'm so proud of these young ladies. They have worked so hard. They have gained confidence and worked together in the last two years. We have a special group of young ladies and I think that's why we're able to do this so quickly," said Mann, who left a successful program at UNC Wilmington to become Virginia's first women's golf coach in 2002.

"As far as this being the first NCAA berth, other teams may have done it as quickly. I just don't know. But to do it in two years is pretty special. … I think we have a legitimate shot of going to nationals. I think that's their gameplan."

Under the guidance of Mann and assistant coach Danielle Roudebush, Virginia has posted six top 10 finishes this season, highlighted by a tie for third at the ACC Championship on April 17. Paced by four sophomores and a freshman in the starting line-up, UVa is ranked No. 29 nationally by GolfWeek magazine. Sophomore Leah Wigger leads the Cavaliers with a 74.93 stroke average.

"We've beaten on a given day a few of the teams that will be at our regional. We have beaten the best teams in the country on a given day. We are so excited and looking forward to the challenge," Mann said.

Wigger was a member of Mann's first recruiting class that signed with UVa because of a vision of something like Monday because certainly the history and tradition was not there at the time. While it was always a goal, the fact that it has come rather quickly certainly is not lost on Wigger and her teammates.

"It's beyond my dreams a little bit. It's happened quickly but we have worked hard to get where we are. I think we definitely deserve it. It's been nice to have this success in the beginning," Wigger said.

Of course, there is a slight snag in Virginia's itinerary. The regional in Gainesville will take place right before Virginia's scheduled exam period. Mann noted that her team has the highest GPA of all of UVa's 25 sports and Wigger says there may have to be some conflicted priorities.

"It's going to be tough balancing the study time and golf time. We will try to keep all the emotions and stress of our schoolwork off the course. It will be a challenge but we are ready to accept it," Wigger said.

In August 2001, UVa Athletics Director Craig Littlepage announced that women's golf would become the 25th intercollegiate sport at UVa and that the team would begin competing during the 2003-04 academic year.

Thanks to the generosity and vision of the late William C. Eacho, Jr., his gift of $1.4 million helped create an endowment for funding women's golf scholarships. Eacho was a 1945 graduate of UVa. With the addition of women's golf, Virginia now has 13 intercollegiate sports for women and 12 for men, including men's golf.

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