Four-time NCAC Women's Player of the Year, Jane Hopkinson-Wood will make her fourth trip to the NCAA Division III Women's Golf Championships in as many years as she was named one of six individuals to the field as announced by the NCAA on Monday evening.
Hopkinson-Wood, a Wittenberg senior who ranks third in GolfStat's computer player rankings, earned the first of six at-large bids into the field. Most recently, Hopkinson-Wood won overall medalist at the NCAC championship tournament for the second time in her career after firing a two-over par 54-hole score of 224 (72-72-80).
2018 will mark the fourth-straight appearance for Hopkinson-Wood at the NCAA championships. The Pottstown, PA native has improved her overall finish each season, highlighted by a fourth-place finish (297) last year that included her career best single round at the Championships when she fired a 69 in round two.
The championships will consist of both team and individual competition conducted concurrently. Following 54 holes of competition, the field will be cut to the top 15 teams and top six individuals not on one of those teams to compete the final day. In the team competition, the low four scores from each team for each day will count in the team's total score.
The championships will be conducted May 8-11 at Mission Inn Resort and Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida. Oglethorpe University and Central Florida Sports Commission will serve as hosts.
Hopkinson-Wood's NCAC Medalist Honor brings her grand-total to 15 in her incredible Tiger career, as Wittenberg did everything they could to hunt down #9 DePauw on the final day of competition. Hopkinson-Wood also earned NCAC Player of the Year honors after putting together a senior season for the ages in Springfield. At the conference level, Hopkinson-Wood most recently earned her 20th NCAC Player of the Week Honors.
The Wittenberg Tigers, who are under the leadership of first-year head coach Michael Leotta, entered the 2018 NCAC Golf Championships ranked 16th in the nation in the most recent GolfStat Top-25, while the DePauw Tigers are ninth in the country in the same rankings. Wittenberg won two team events this season, winning its own Pat Clouse Invitational in early October, before capturing the team title earlier this spring at OWU's Laura Bump Invitational. Wittenberg senior Hopkinson-Wood has once again led the charge for her squad this season with five total individual titles, winning medalist honors at Denison's Lynn Schweizer Invitational, DePauw's Dan Quayle Collegiate Classic, Wittenberg's own Pat Clouse Invitational, the NCAC Fall Preview event at Westbrook C.C. and finally earning the top prize at OWU's Laura Bump Invitational this spring. Hopkinson-Wood, who won the NCAC's individual championship in 2016, is also one of the top Div. III players in the country this season as she ranks third overall in the GolfStat individual rankings with an adjusted scoring average of 73.49. Hopkinson-Wood finished second overall in 2017 with a 229