The St. Thomas women’s golf team and men’s golfer Alex Kapraun qualified for NCAA Division-III National Championships, which will be held for both men and women during the weekend of May 13-16.

The St. Thomas women’s golf team, which received an automatic bid last fall for winning the MIAC championship, are one of 21 teams that will compete in the 72-hole national tournament. Fifteen of the 21 teams were granted automatic bids for winning their respective conferences and the remaining six teams received at-large bids. The women’s tournament will be held at the El Campeon Golf Course at the Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida.

The women qualified for the D-III Championships last fall, defeating Carleton by one stroke in the 54-hole MIAC championship. This was the smallest margin of victory in the history of the conference championship.

“We had a decent spring and a phenomenal fall,” head coach Sara Evens said. “We might have done better having nationals in the fall and ride the momentum and the excitement of that season.”

Senior Doyle O’Brien is second in the MIAC, averaging 79.1 strokes per round. Sophomore Erin Dingmann is third in the MIAC averaging 80.2 strokes per round. As a team, St. Thomas is averaging 326.3 strokes per round.

“We have the talent to go there and make a statement,” Evens said. “Our goal is to place in the top five.… Our girls just need to put together four consistent rounds.”

On the men’s side, Kapraun is one of five individuals in the nation who received at-large bids to the NCAA men’s tournament and will play amongst 210 golfers from 41 teams. He is the only member of the St. Thomas men’s team to qualify for the tournament. The tournament will take place at Grandover Resort in Greensboro, North Carolina.

“It was a very sweet feeling (to get an individual bid). We were still kind of hoping our team would get an at-large bid, so the rest of the team could go down there with me,” Kapraun said. “Unfortunately that didn’t happen, but I’m still thrilled to get the chance as an individual to compete at nationals.”

Kapraun, a junior, leads the MIAC in score per round, with an average score of 74.3. Kapraun achieved the second-lowest round in the MIAC this season when he shot a 67 at the Twin Cities Classic last fall.

“It won’t change much. (Head coach Scott Proshek) is spending more time with me individually, so we can work on more specific things, but overall I’m just sticking to what got me here,” Kapraun said. “I’ll just do the best I can to represent our team and St. Thomas at nationals.”

Jordan Kruger and Jacob Sevening contributed to this report.