BREMERTON, Wash. – The Pepperdine women's golf team won the West Coast Conference Championships for a league-best 20^th time on Saturday, while junior Kaleiya Romero earned her second college title after tying her career low round with a 5-under 67 today.
 
"It has been a great season and the players have played very well to win five tournaments," said head coach Laurie Gibbs.  "We are very excited to finish four tournaments in the last five weeks with a WCC Championship."
 
The Waves shot a three-day total of 852 (290-283-279) at the par-72 Olympic Course at Gold Mountain and finished ahead of second-place BYU by 17-strokes.  The score is Pepperdine's all-time best at a WCC Championship by 17-strokes and the 12-under ranks fifth in the record books for lowest 54-hole score. 
 
Pepperdine has now won 20 of the 26 league championships ever contested.  It's the 19^th time a Pepperdine player has been medalist at the WCC Championships.  Romero's individual title is also the fourth-consecutive WCC Tournament win by the Waves – Lauren Gomez, Caroline Hwang and Hira Naveed won in 2022, 2021 and 2019 respectively and there was no tournament played in 2020.
 
"Kaleiya played awesome today with a career low round of 67 to win by one shot," said Gibbs.  "Lion had a great season to lead our team.
 
"The players have finals next week and then a week of practice with no classes as we prepare for NCAA Regionals!"
 
In addition to Romero, Lion Higo and Reese Guzman finished second and third, giving the Waves the top three finishers. These three, and one competitor from San Francisco, were the only golfers to finish under par.
 
Pepperdine's five tournament wins so far this season ties the most in program history, a feat that had only been accomplished once before by the 2002-03 squad that ended as NCAA Championships runner-up and ranked second nationally.  Waves' teams had won four tournaments in a single season four times in program history as well. 

PLAYER SCORES

• Junior Kaleiya Romero (San Jose, Calif.) shot a 5-under 67 in the third round with six birdies to earn the medalist honor.  She had a three-round score of 209 (70-72-67) and finished with 15 birdies in the tournament, which tied for the most out of all in the field.  It's her fifth tournament in the top-10 this season.
• Junior Lion Higo (Gold Coast, Australia) tied Romero with 15 birdies throughout the tournament, good for a final score of 210 (73-64-73) and second-place.  She had a stellar second round after shooting a career-low 8-under 64 for the course record.  It's her sixth tournament this season in the top-10 and the 10^th in the top-20.  She has also produced 15 below-par rounds this season, which ranks second in the Pepperdine seasonal record books.
• Senior Reese Guzman (Kahului, Hawai'i) finished in third with a three-day score of 213 (72-73-68).  She shot 4-under today with five birdies and finished with 11 birdies in the tournament.  This is her third tournament in the top-10 this season.
• Sophomore Lauren Gomez (Murrieta, Calif.) finished in 16^th with a score of 223 (78-74-71) and had 10 birdies. 
• Freshman Yingzhi Zhu (Nanjing, China) finished in 23^rd with a score of 230 (75-79-76).  She produced seven birdies.

UP NEXT
NCAA Regional selections will be announced on Wednesday (April 26) at 1 p.m. PT on the Golf Channel.
 
THE NUMBERS
Team Standings: 1. Pepperdine 852; 2. BYU 869; 3. Gonzaga 876; 4. San Francisco 883; 5. Santa Clara 889.
 
Individual Leaders: 1. Kaleiya Romero (Pepperdine) 209; 2. Lion Higo (Pepperdine) 210; 3. Reese Guzman (Pepperdine) 213; 4. Riana Mission (USF) 215; 5. Grace Lee (Gonzaga) 217; T6. Adeline Anderson (BYU) 218; T6. Cassie Kim (Gonzaga) 218; T8. Yvonne Shang (USF) 219; T8. Lila Galeai (BYU) 219.

  
 
 
 
 
 
 
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