Courtesy of CNU Athletic Communications

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. -- Making history as the first Capital Athletic Conference and Christopher Newport University women's golfer ever to be selected to the NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championships, CNU sophomore Erica Whitehouse was named one of six individual qualifiers for this year's championship event in a press release from the NCAA on Monday evening. 

Whitehouse, a two-time CAC Player of the Year and conference champion, will compete among 25 teams and six individuals for a total of 131 golfers at the Division III National Championships on May 14-17. The championship event will be played at the Bay Oaks Country Club in Houston, Texas, hosted by the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor and Harris County-Houston Sports Commission. 

A fledgling program, the Christopher Newport Captains have surged to national prominence in just their second year of existence. Despite it's infancy, CNU was ranked in the top-25 this season and Whitehouse's selection adds to the Captains rise among the nation's elite. She has led the program in each of her first two seasons and continues to grow as one of the country's top Division III golfers. 

This season, she has a stroke average of 76.3 with three wins and five top-five finishes in seven events played. The second-year player won the Bridgewater Fall Invitational and then repeated as the individual medalist at both the Max & Susan Stith Invitational and the CAC Women's Golf Championship. 

Whitehouse has written the record book for the young Captains and posted three sub-par rounds this season including a record -2 in the first round of the Bridgewater Fall Invitational. She has registered eight of CNU's ten best rounds this season and shot over 80 in only three of her 15 rounds of play. According to the most recent rankings at Golfstat.com, Whitehouse ranks 17th among Division III players and sixth among uunderclassmen. 

The NCAA will provide live scoring from the Division III Women's Golf Championships. A full preview and recaps for the four-round event will be available at CNUsports.com following the action. 

INDIVIDUAL SELECTIONS
1. Bailey Plourde, Centre College
2. Erica Whitehouse, Christopher Newport University
3. Taylor Beckwith, Whittier College
4. Chloe Levins, Middlebury College
5. Emily Lewis, Chapman University
6. Nicole Miller, Bethel University (Minnesota)