The Big West champion UC Irvine women's golf team received a No. 9 seed for the NCAA Golf Championships West Regional Monday. The Anteaters will compete with 20 other teams at the Entrada at Snow Canyon Country Club May 10-12 in St. George, Utah. Brigham Young is the regional host. In addition, Long Beach State junior Kay Hoey has been selected to compete as an individual at the West Regional.

Arizona State is the No. 1 seed and Pepperdine No. 2. Joining Hoey as competing individuals will be Jennifer Shipley of Fresno State and Lehua Wise of New Mexico State.

UC Irvine carded a 28-over 892 to win its third straight Big West title at Tijeras Creek Golf Club last week. The Anteaters finished three golfers in the top five and four in the top 10. UCI is ranked No. 28 in the most recent Golfstat head-to-head national rankings (Apr. 25) and 30th in the Apr. 29 Golfweek/Sagarin Index.

UCI already has played the host course this season, finishing in a tie for fourth at the BYU Dixie Classic in early April.

This is the third straight year and fourth time overall that the Anteaters have been chosen to participate in a regional. Previous appearances were in 2002, 2005 and 2006.

For Hoey, this is her second selection as an individual after receiving an invitation in 2005. The 2007 Big West Female Golfer of the Year, Hoey is currently ranked No. 13 in the nation by Golfstat and No. 22 by Golfweek Magazine. Her average score is 70.69 in five spring tournaments, three of which she was a medalist - Kitahara Fresno State Invitational, Peg Barnard California Collegiate and the Big West Championship.

The top eight teams and two individuals will advance from each of the three regionals to the NCAA Championship finals. The finals will be held May 22-25 at the LPGA International Legends Course in Daytona Beach, Fla. The other two regionals include the East Regional (University Club Golf Course, Baton Rouge, La.) and Central Regional (University of Michigan Golf Course, Ann Arbor, Mich.).

NCAA WEST REGIONAL TEAMS

1. Arizona State
2. Pepperdine
3. Florida
4. Oklahoma State
5. Brigham Young
6. Stanford
7. Denver
8. New Mexico
9. UC Irvine
10. San Jose State
11. UNLV
12. San Francisco
13. Hawai'i
14. California
15. Idaho
16. Washington State
17. Campbell
18. Nebraska
19. Memphis
20. Sacramento State
21. Columbia

NCAA WEST REGIONAL INDIVIDUALS

1. Kay Hoey, Long Beach State
2. Jennifer Shipley, Fresno State
3. Lehua Wise, New Mexico State