KANSAS CITY, Mo. - The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) released the qualifiers for the 2012 NAIA Women's Golf National Championships on Thursday. Among the participants will be first-year program Point Loma Nazarene which gathered in the No. 13 at-large berth.

The 20th annual event will take place at Link Hills Country Club in Greenville, Tenn., May 15 - 18. First and second round pairings for the event will be announced Friday by 3 p.m. CDT.

Twenty-eight teams will compete at the national event. Fifteen automatic qualifying teams punched their ticket with a team title in one of the NAIA's conference/independent/unaffiliated group tournaments, while 13 at-large selections - determined using the final NAIA Women's Golf Coaches' Top 25 Poll - and four individual qualifiers make up the 144-player field at this year's National Championships.

Among the qualifying teams is last year's national runner-up Embry-Riddle (Fla.). In 2011, the Eagles fell to former NAIA member California Baptist in the event's first national championship decided by a playoff hole. In addition to Embry-Riddle, Oklahoma City highlights the field as a potential favorite. The Stars, who received an automatic berth after winning the Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament championship, finished fourth a year ago and have ranked atop the NAIA Women's Golf Coaches' Top 25 Poll in every edition this season.

Three of the tournament's top-five finishers return to the field, including defending national champion Kylie Barros. Barros carded a 73-74-75-75 - 297 at last year's National Championships en route to a four stroke victory. In addition to Barros, 10 of the 15 2011 NAIA All-America selections will also return to the course as a member of a qualifying team.

2012 Women's Golf National Championship Team Qualifiers

School	Qualification
Avila (Mo.)	Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament Champion
Bethel (Ind.)	Unaffiliated Group No. 2 Tournament Champion
British Columbia	Association of Independent Institutions Tournament Champion
Cal State San Marcos	At-Large No. 7
College of Idaho	At-Large No. 11
Concordia (Ore.)	Unaffiliated Group No. 1 Tournament Champion
Cumberlands (Ky.)	Unaffiliated Group No. 4 Tournament Champion
Dakota Wesleyan (S.D.)	Great Plains Athletic Conference Tournament Champion
Embry-Riddle (Fla.)	At-Large No. 1
Grand View (Iowa)	Midwest Collegiate Conference Tournament Champion
Lee (Tenn.)	Southern States Athletic Conference Tournament Champion
Lubbock Christian (Texas)	At-Large No. 3
Madonna (Mich.)	Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference Tournament Champion
Milligan (Tenn.)	Appalachian Athletic Conference Tournament Champion
Northwood (Fla.)	At-Large No. 2
Oklahoma Christian	At-Large No. 5
Oklahoma City	Sooner Athletic Conference Tournament Champion
Point Loma Nazarene (Calif.)	At-Large No. 13
Rocky Mountain (Mont.)	Frontier Conference Tournament Champion
SCAD Savannah (Ga.)	The Sun Conference Tournament Champion
Shorter (Ga.)	At-Large No. 4
South Carolina Beaufort	At-Large No. 6
Southern Nazarene (Okla.)	At-Large No. 12
Southwestern (Kan.)	Unaffiliated Group No. 3 Tournament Champion
Victoria (B.C.)	At-Large No. 8
Wayland Baptist (Texas)	At-Large No. 9
Westminster (Utah)	At-Large No. 10
William Woods (Mo.)	American Midwest Conference Tournament Champion

2012 Women's Golf National Championship Individual Qualifiers

School	Qualification
Brittany Boon, Ashford (Iowa)	Midwest Collegiate Conference Individual Medalist
Megan Miehe, Culver-Stockton (Mo.)	Heart of America Athletic Conference Individual Medalist
Kaitlin Allan, Lindsey Wilson (Ky.)	Unaffiliated Group No. 4 Individual Medalist
Alainey Muro, Texas at Brownsville	Unaffiliated Group No. 3 Individual Medalist