INDIANAPOLIS --- Tusculum's Ciara Rattana has been selected to play as an individual competitor at the 2017 NCAA Division II South Super Regional Championship.
The three-day, 54-hole region championship will be held May 8-10 at the Members Club at Woodcreek in Elgin, South Carolina and hosted by Newberry College.
The South Super Regional will consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently with 12 teams and six individuals from non-qualifying teams. The top three teams along with the top three individuals not with a team advancing will move onto the NCAA II National Championship to be played May 17-20 in Findlay, Ohio.
Teams competing in this year's South Super Regional include: Barry, Saint Leo, Rollins, Nova Southeastern, Florida Tech, Lynn, West Florida, Montevallo, Lee, West Georgia, Flagler and Armstrong State.
Joining Rattana in the group of individual competitors are: Kiira Riijarvi (Tampa), Abbey Hartsell (Lenoir-Rhyne), Ashlii Thompson (UNC Pembroke), Elizabeth England (Carson-Newman) and Marley Felthousen (Converse).
Rattana becomes the third player in school history to qualify as a NCAA Regional competitor, joining Rachel McFarland (2003) and Emee Herbert (2013). McFarland is the only player to advance to the national championship.
Rattana, a native of Western Springs, Illinois, led the Pioneers with her 76.52 scoring average, which is on pace to be a new Tusculum single-season record. She earned All-South Atlantic Conference first team honors for a third consecutive year while posting nine top-20 performances, including seven times in the top-10 and six times in the top-five.
She accounted for scores in the 70s in 19 of her 23 rounds this year including runner-up finishes at the Patsy Rendleman Invitational as well as the Flagler Fall Slam. She finished tied for third place at the South Atlantic Conference Championship, earning her SAC All-Tournament honors. She has a 77.77 career stroke average which is the second-lowest in the 20-year history of the program.