SAN ANTONIO — The UTSA women’s golf team will travel to Brooksville, Florida, to play in the American Athletic Conference Championship, which will be held on Monday-Wednesday, April 15-17, at Southern Plantation Club (par 72/6,289 yards).
The Roadrunners will bring a lineup of Camryn Carreon, Daniela Abonce, Morgan Ellison, Olivia Williams and Maria Bastarrica for the three-day, 54-hole tournament.
UTSA — No. 66 in the latest SCOREBOARD NCAA Women’s Team Rankings — will compete against Charlotte, East Carolina, Florida Atlantic, Memphis, No. 46 North Texas, No. 27 SMU, No. 36 South Florida, Tulane, Tulsa, UAB and Wichita State.
This will mark UTSA’s first appearance in the AAC Championship after competing for the last decade in Conference USA.
Last year, the Roadrunners placed third at the Conference USA Championship to extend their streak of top-four league finishes to 15 dating back to the third season in program history in 2008 (there was no C-USA Championship in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).
Carreon carded a 2-over-par 218 to finish fourth individually and earn all-tournament honors for the second straight year. The Conference USA runner-up in 2022, the San Antonio native has been UTSA’s top league finisher three years in a row, becoming the second Roadrunner to achieve that feat and the first since Laura Baker in 2006-08.
UTSA owns four conference team titles in program history, which dates back to 2005-06.
The Roadrunners captured a pair of Conference USA team and individual titles under head coach Summer Batiste, a two-time Conference USA Coach of the Year. The Roadrunners won back-to-back crowns in 2018 and 2019 behind individual medalists Julie Houston and Gonzalez.
UTSA also claimed back-to-back conference crowns in 2011 and ’12 as members of the Southland Conference. The Roadrunners have three total runner-up finishes, in 2009 in the Southland and in 2014 and ‘22 in C-USA.
Five Roadrunners have captured individual conference titles, as Allie Jordan (2009) and Shannon Jungmann (2012) won Southland crowns, while Fabiola Arriaga was victorious in UTSA’s first Conference USA Championship appearance in 2014, before Houston and Gonzalez went back-to-back in 2018-19.
The Roadrunners are coming off a 10th-place finish at the Chattanooga Classic on April 7-9. Carreon finished in a tie for 13th with a 4-over-par 217 (76-70-71) to lead the way.
Carreon paces UTSA with a 70.7 stroke average and nine top-20 finishes, including a pair of victories at the Badger Invitational and Dale McNamara Invitational last fall. The 2023 NCAA San Antonio Regional medalist checks in at No. 63 in the latest SCOREBOARD NCAA Women’s Individual Rankings.
Abonce ranks second on the squad with a 73.07 scoring average to go along with a pair of top 10s. The sophomore out of Veracruz, Mexico, fired a 12-under 204 (68-68-68) to earn runner-up honors at the Sam Golden Invitational and carded a 215 (74-67-74) for a ninth-place tie at the Bruzzy.
Ellison owns a 73.93 stroke average and three top-15 finishes. The junior from Peachtree City, Georgia, logged her top 54-hole total with a 7-under 209 (68-70-71) to tie for 13th at the Sam Golden Invitational, while she posted her best finish of 12th after carding a 2-under 214 (69-74-71) at the UNF Collegiate.
Williams totes a 74.22 scoring mark and a top finish of 10th when the England native posted a 2-over 218 (73-74-71) at the Badger Invitational.
Bastarrica boasts a 74.59 stroke average in her true freshman campaign. The Spaniard turned in her top 54-hole total with a 1-over 217 (72-71-74) at the Jim West Challenge last fall and her best finish of 25th at the Nexus Collegiate earlier this spring.
-UTSA-