April 16, 2011

PHOENIX (UNLVRebels.com) - UNLV senior Therese Koelbaek shot a final-round-low 4-under-par 68 on Saturday to capture medalist honors at the 2011 Mountain West Conference Championship, which was held at Red/Heritage Course at the Wigwam Resort.

Koelbaek, this season's MWC Golfer of the Year and an All-MWC honoree, finished the 54-hole tournament with a 7-under total of 209, winning the tournament by four shots over Colorado State's Betsy Kelly and BYU's Kelsey Vines. It was Koelbaek's first individual MWC championship as she tied the league record for largest margin of victory. On Saturday, she birdied holes 1, 6, 8, 13 and 18, with just one bogey on the 10th.

Koelbaek also became the fourth Rebel to win the MWC's women's golf individual championship. The others were Sunny Oh in 2004, Elen Kurokawa in 2005 and Da Sol Chung in 2006.

As a team, UNLV shot 4-over 292 during the final round and finished the tournament with a 6-over total of 870, five shots behind TCU. The Horned Frogs won the team title at 1-over 865. BYU finished third at 18-over, New New Mexico was fourth at 20-over, and San Diego State rounded out the top five at 23-over. Colorado State finished sixth at 25-over, while Wyoming was last in seventh at 46-over.

UNLV sophomore Ellis Keenan finished in a fifth-place tie at even-par 216 after a final-round 3-over, senior Alejandra Guacaneme tied for 12th at 5-over 221 after a final-round 2-over, junior Bethany Glassford finished tied for 20th at 8-over 224 after a final-round 3-over, and freshman Katerina Prorokova finished 31st at 18-over 234 after a final-round 75.

The NCAA Regional fields will be announced on Monday, April 25. The regionals, which will be held at one of three sites (Seattle, Wash., South Bend, Ind., and Daytona, Fla.), will be played May 5-7.