SAN ANTONIO — UTSA junior Camryn Carreon will travel to Arizona to compete as an individual in the NCAA Women's Golf Championships, which will be held on May 20-23 at Grayhawk Golf Club's Raptor Course (par 72/6,384 yards) in Scottsdale.
The San Antonio native has made history as the first Roadrunner to advance past NCAA Regional play, earning the No. 8 seed among 12 individuals who will tee it up alongside 24 teams for three rounds of stroke play on Friday-Sunday. She is slated to tee off in the first round at 3:31 p.m. CT on Friday from No. 10 and at 10:31 a.m. CT on Saturday from No. 1. The top nine individuals not on an advancing team will advance to the final round of stroke play on Monday to determine the 72-hole individual champion.
Carreon finished in a tie for fourth place overall and first among individuals not on an advancing team at the Franklin Regional on May 9-11 in Tennessee to secure her spot in the NCAA Championships. The first-team All-Conference USA performer fired a 5-under-par 211 that was capped with a 67 in the final round to help UTSA place sixth in the 12-team field, marking the program's best individual and team finishes in the NCAA postseason.
A two-time all-league selection, Carreon leads the Roadrunners with a 73.79 scoring average to go along with two straight and three overall top-10 finishes this season. She was the C-USA runner-up, helping guide UTSA to a second-place finish by a mere one stroke in the team race. She also tied for sixth at the Tulane Classic in February, and she has finished in the top 20 seven times in 2021-22.
Carreon's 211 at the Franklin Regional was the best 54-hole total of her UTSA career, while her 67 in the final round is the second-lowest score posted in school history behind a pair of 66s. The public health major has turned in 11 par-or-better rounds this season and 17 for her career, good for seventh on the program's all-time chart.
Roadrunners keep postseason streak alive
Under the direction of fifth-year head coach Summer Batiste, the Roadrunners advanced to their fourth straight and seventh overall NCAA postseason this season. UTSA was the No. 9 seed — the highest NCAA seed in program history — for the Franklin Regional in Tennessee and ended up a program-record sixth in the 12-team field in the final standings after carding an 875 (293-294-288).
This season marked the second straight and third time overall the program advanced via an at-large berth. In 2013, UTSA was an at-large pick for the Central Regional in Norman, Oklahoma, the first time any sport in school history received an at-large team bid to the NCAA postseason. Last year, the Roadrunners earned the No. 13 seed for the Louisville Regional, also as an at-large selection.
Records fall at Franklin Regional
UTSA set several team and individual program records for NCAA postseason play at the Franklin Regional on May 9-11 in Tennessee. Below is a list of those records broken by the Roadrunners this season:
Team
Best Finish: 6th
Low Round: E (288)
Low 54-Hole Total: +11 (875)
Individual
Best Finish: T-4th, Camryn Carreon
Low Round: -5 (67), Camryn Carreon
Low 54-Hole Total: -5 (211), Camryn Carreon
Four Roadrunners land on All Conference teams
UTSA placed a league-high four student-athletes on the All-Conference USA Teams, as Camryn Carreon and Ana Gonzalez landed on the first team while Hunter Nugent and Nicole Polivchak made the third team.
With this year's four selections, UTSA now has garnered 40 all-conference certificates in its 17-year history, including 12 in five seasons under head coach Summer Batiste, a two-time C-USA coach of the Year honoree.
Batiste off to successful start
Summer Batiste is off to a successful start to her head coaching career. In her first five seasons at the helm, she has guided UTSA to four NCAA postseason appearances and a pair of Conference USA titles, and she now has overseen the first appearance by a Roadrunner at the NCAA Championships with Camryn Carreon's berth as the No. 8 individual seed in Scottsdale this year. The 2020 season was canceled in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two-time C-USA Coach of the Year has led the Roadrunners to seven total tournament titles, two individual conference crowns and 12 all-conference certificates.
UTSA also has taken care of business in the classroom under Batiste, as the program has placed 28 student-athletes on the C-USA Commissioner's Honor Roll over the last five years while collecting a total of nine C-USA Academic Medals for a 3.75-or-better cumulative GPA. The Roadrunners have earned three spots on C-USA All-Academic Teams and seven Women's Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar awards during her tenure. They also have received three NCAA Public Recognition Awards for posting an Academic Progress Rate among the top 10 percent nationally within the sport, as UTSA has recorded a perfect score of 1,000 during each of the last three reporting periods.
A native of Spring, Texas, Batiste spent three seasons as UTSA's assistant coach before being named the program's third head coach in July 2017.
A former standout player for the Roadrunners in 2007-12, Batiste served as team captain her final two seasons and earned second-team All-Southland Conference honors in both 2010 and 2011. She shared individual medalist honors with teammate Taylor Newlin at the 2012 Islander Classic after shooting a 75-74-71—220 and she posted four additional top-five finishes during her career. She was a member of back-to-back NCAA Regional teams, tying for 89th (77-85-77—239) in 2011 and 104th (78-83-84—245) in 2012.
Batiste, the daughter of former Texas A&M and Miami Dolphins football player Dana Batiste, was a three-time winner of the UTSA Weight Room Warrior Award.
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