Maria Jose “MJ” Barragan has been chosen by the NCAA Division I Women’s Golf Committee to compete as the fourth-seeded individual in the Louisville Regional, which will take place May 11-13 at Louisville Golf Club, according to an April 29 announcement.
Barragan’s selection is significant as it marks her first individual appearance in an NCAA Regional and makes her the first BYU women’s golfer to qualify individually since Allysha Mae Mateo competed in the NCAA San Antonio Regional in 2023. The regional competition features six individuals and twelve teams, with a total of sixty golfers participating. The top three teams at this site are Arkansas (ranked sixth), Auburn (seventh), and Iowa State (eighteenth).
Head coach Carrie Roberts said, “I’m super proud of MJ for qualifying for the NCAA Regional. She has dedicated her time and talents to improving her skill sets to be one of the top competitors in the NCAA. Our goal is to always go as a team, but we’re super proud of MJ; her hard work and her dedication to being her very best.”
Assistant coach Alex White also commented on Barragan’s achievement: “MJ has put in consistent work the last couple of years to earn this opportunity. She’s played this season through quite a bit of adversity. I’m proud of her for keeping her composure and drive. It’s been fun to watch her journey and be there to experience the fire and intensity she brings to each tournament. I can’t wait to see how far she takes it this year. The sky is the limit for MJ.”
The Louisville Regional will send its top five teams along with the lowest scoring individual not on an advancing team from each regional site forward into the NCAA Championships at Omni La Costa Resort in Carlsbad, California, scheduled for May 22-27. Other regional sites include Ann Arbor, Michigan; Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Stanford, California; Tallahassee, Florida; and Waco, Texas.
Barragan recently finished thirty-seventh at the Big 12 Women’s Golf Championship after recording four consecutive top-fifteen finishes earlier this season. Over recent tournaments she achieved five top-twenty-five finishes overall—including four inside the top fifteen—and tied for eighth place at Arizona Thunderbird Intercollegiate at Tucson Country Club.
