With aspirations for a repeat trip to the NCAA championships, the Northwestern women’s golf team heads to Chapel Hill, N.C., to compete in the East Regional May 10-12.

The No. 19 Wildcats will face stiff competition, namely from the “big three” of No. 1 Duke, No. 3 Auburn and No. 6 Georgia. Other strong teams in the Cats’ bracket include No. 11 Pepperdine, No. 16 Wake Forest and No. 21 Vanderbilt.

At the East Regional, which is hosted by North Carolina, the Cats will play 18 holes each day. The top eight teams and two individuals not on one of the top eight squads will advance to the NCAA Championships in Florida May 23-26. There are 21 teams competing in the East Regional.

Last year at the East Regionals, NU finished a surprise second behind Duke in Columbus, Ohio. Then-sophomore Emily Gilley was the top finisher for the Cats, tying for 11th, and sophomore Elizabeth Burden followed in 15th.

This year the number of regions has been increased from two to three, and 63 teams will compete rather than the usual 48.

“It will be tough competition, but when there were just two divisions last year the team finished second to Duke,” freshman Hana Kim said. “We have a stronger team this year. If we play our best we should be guaranteed a spot at NCAAs.”

The East Region is the deepest of the three regional tournaments; however, the West is also strong, boasting teams such as No. 2 Arizona, No. 4 USC and and No. 5 Stanford.

The Cats head into the tournament coming off a strong performance at the Big Ten championships, where they finished tied for second place despite a difficult course and poor weather.

The top performers for the Cats at the conference championships were Kim, who finished eighth overall, and freshman Lauren Grzebien and sophomore Elizabeth Burden, who tied for 17th. Gilley finished fourth for the Cats and 20th overall.

Burden and Gilley received All-Big Ten honors for the 2001 spring season last week. This is Burden’s second time receiving the honor and its the third for Gilley, who is ranked 84th in the Mastercard Intercollegiate Golf Rankings.

The depth of the Cats’ squad should be an asset at the tournament. This spring NU has seen constant shifts in the order of team finishes, with Burden playing fairly consistently all year and Kim coming on strong toward the end of the season.

The order, according to the team, is insignificant so long as it plays well as a whole and advances to the championships.

“Personally, I just want to play my best to help the team,” Grzebien said.