No. 1-Seed Alabama Women’s Golf Begins NCAA Regional Play on Monday

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama women's golf team will be the No. 1 seed at the NCAA Athens Regional, May 8-10 at the University of Georgia Golf Club in Athens, Ga. Teams joining Alabama in the 16-team field include No. 2-seed Georgia, No. 3-seed Northwestern, No. 4-seed Arizona and No. 5-seed Baylor. The regional bid is the 12th in a row under head coach Mic Potter and the 19th in the history of the program. Alabama captured regional championships in 2011 in Daytona Beach, Fla. and 2013 in Auburn, Ala. The Crimson Tide's only other NCAA appearance in Athens was a seventh-place finish at the 2013 NCAA Championships.

The top six teams and top three individuals from the regional will qualify for the 2017 NCAA Women's Golf Championships, which will be held May 19-24 at Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Ill.

Alabama Dominates SEC Postseason Awards

Sophomore Cheyenne Knight was named the SEC Player of the Year, while freshman Kristen Gillman was named the league's Freshman of the Year. Knight, Gillman and sophomore Lauren Stephenson also earned first team All-SEC honors and Gillman was named to the SEC All-Freshman team. Senior Cammie Gray was named to the SEC Community Service Team for the second consecutive year.

The All-SEC honor is the second for Knight, who joins Stephanie Meadow (2013, 2014) as the only Crimson Tide women's golfers to earn SEC Player of the Year honors. Gillman joins Jennifer Kirby (2010), Meadow (2011) and Emma Talley (2013) as the fourth SEC Freshman of the Year in program history.

The first-team selections for Knight, Gillman and Stephenson marks the third time that Alabama has landed three golfers on the All-SEC first team. Camilla Lennarth, Stephanie Meadow and Brooke Pancake were honored in 2011 while Meadow, Pancake and Jennifer Kirby were selected in 2012.

Crimson Tide Boasts Three of Nation's Top-15 Golfers

Sophomore Cheyenne Knight is the nation's No. 2-ranked golfer in the lateset Golfstat individual statistical rankings. Knight (70.40) is joined in the top 15 by two of her teammates: sophomore Lauren Stephenson (71.04) is 10th and freshman Kristen Gillman (71.08) is 11th. Knight (third), Gillman (sixth) and Stephenson (17th) are also among the leaders in the most recent Golfweek women's rankings.

Alabama in the National Rankings

The Tide is No. 3 latest Golfstat Relative Rankings released May 2. Stanford is No. 1 this week followed by the UCLA, the Crimson Tide, Florida and Florida State to round out the top five. The Tide's rating of 70.60 is No. 2 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index released April 26. UCLA (70.59) tops the Golfweek rankings followed by the Crimson Tide, Stanford (70.63), Arizona State (70.64) and Florida State (70.77).

Alabama Finishes Second at SEC Championships after Record Final Round

Alabama set an SEC championship record with a blistering 13-under par final round to tie for second place at the 2017 Southeastern Conference Women's Golf Championship April 21-23 in Birmingham, Ala.

The final round 13-under par 275 by the Crimson Tide is a new SEC Women's Golf Championship record for score and score vs. par. Individually, Cheyenne Knight led the Tide with a 5-under par 211 (75-70-66) to tie for fifth place. Kristen Gillman tied for seventh one shot back at 4-under par.

Get all the latest information on the team by following @AlabamaWGolf, on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. General athletic news can also be found at UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and AlabamaAthletics on Facebook.