Before Dawn Shockley took over the Oregon State women’s golf team, the program had made it to the NCAA championships just one time, qualifying in 1998.

Shockley led the team to the tournament a year ago and the Beavers will make their second straight appearance at the championships starting Friday at the Omni La Costa Resort & Spa in Carlsbad, California.

Senior Chayse Gomez, junior Madde Sund and sophomore Kyra Ly are the first Oregon State women golfers to make a repeat appearance. They are joined by freshmen Raya Nakao, Rebecca Kim and Kelly Hope.

Gomez said the three returners were extremely motivated to get back to nationals and that drove the entire team throughout the season.

“We have just all put in the work to get to where we are,” Gomez said. “It’s not a fluke. It proves we’re not a fluke. We’re here to be in the national championships.”

A year ago, Oregon State put up one of the best scores in program history to breeze through its regional competition.

The path to the NCAA championships was tougher this year.

The Beavers played a solid first round and were tied for fifth on the leaderboard, with the top five teams qualifying for the NCAA championships. But a tough second round left Oregon State in seventh place, six shots back of fifth.

Shockley said the team didn’t panic: “Six shots is not that many.”

Gomez and Nakao, who had been the team’s most consistent golfers all season, were playing great. As always, the final result would come down to the performance of the other members of the team.

Ly shot a 72 in the third round, Sund scored a 74 and Kim posted a 76. Gomez and Nakao each shot 3-under 69 in the third round and the Beavers climbed the team leaderboard to finish fifth and earn the bid to nationals.

“I was really proud of Rebecca, our freshman, who has struggled. She stepped up. And at the end of the day Kyra had a day she hadn’t had in a while,” Shockley said. “The team chemistry, the bond that these guys have is really unique. Honestly, there was no panic, no worry. Chasing it is kind of fun.”

The University of Oregon women’s golf team is also headed to the NCAA championships after placing second in the NCAA Auburn regional.

The No. 14-ranked Ducks finished +14 on the three-day tournament, four strokes behind the host No. 7 Tigers (+10) and seven ahead of third-place No. 29 North Carolina (+21). The top five-finishing teams at the Auburn regional advanced to the NCAAs, and the two other teams who moved on from the region include No. 2 South Carolina (+27) and No. 47 Tulsa (+27).

Consistency across the board got it done for the Ducks. Star freshmen Kiara Romero and Ting-Hsuan Huang led the way, finishing tied for 10th individually with scores of +2 on the tournament.