COLUMBUS, Ohio (May 10, 2017) -- Senior Camila Serrano (Bogota, Colombia) went 3-under in her final four holes, including an eagle on the par-5, 14^th hole, to surge to a final-round 73 at the NCAA Columbus Regional, and into a tie for seventh place at 4-over (77-70-73  220) to become the third player in FIU history to qualify for the NCAA Championships, which takes place in nine days. The regional was played at the par-72, 6,416-yard Scarlet Course at the OSU Golf Club.
 
The top six of the invited 18 teams and the best three individuals by final score on a team not advancing, qualified for the National Championships. Cara Gorlei of Arkansas and Maddie Szeryk of Texas A&M earned invitations along with Serrano to play Rich Harvest Farms in Sugar Grove, Illinois, for an individual championship.
 
Serrano started the day with five pars before bogeys on two of the last four holes of the front nine. She teetered between ninth and 13^th place for most of the final round. She produced pars on the first two holes of the back nine before two more bogeys took her round to 4-over.
 
"After I bogeyed the 12^th and 13^th holes, I teed off mad on the 14^th, where they moved the tees up today, and I hit the ball really far," said Serrano after the round. "That left me with a short second shot of 128 yards and I was able to hit my nine-iron to within (six feet) and made it!"
 
She then proceeded to birdie the 15^th and par the 16^th before a bogey at 17 left her at 2-over. The 18^th hole, which she had played to 1-over through two rounds, produced a birdie and the 73.
 
Serrano led the 96-player tournament field by recording a total score of even par on the 30 par-4 holes, two shots better than the next closest player.
 
"The birdie on 18 was crazy because I holed a putt of about 40 feet!" added Serrano. "I didn't quite know the position I was in so it was even better after everyone I was playing with wished me luck in Illinois."
 
Serrano joins Meghan MacLaren (2015) and Moira Dunn (1993, 1994) as the other FIU golfers to qualify for the National Championship as an individual.
 
She will be joined by 24 teams and 11 other individuals for the final golf of the season, from May 19-24.

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About FIU Athletics: FIU Athletics is home to more than 400 student-athletes in 18 different sports. Athletic events are played in seven different venues on FIU's campuses (Modesto A. Maidique and Biscayne Bay), including Lime Court at FIU Arena and at Riccardo Silva Stadium.
 
About FIU: Florida International University is classified by Carnegie as a "R1: Doctoral Universities - Highest Research Activity" and recognized as a Carnegie Community Engaged university. It is a public research university with colleges and schools that offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs in fields such as business, engineering, computer science, international relations, architecture, law and medicine. As one of South Florida's anchor institutions, FIU contributes almost $9 billion each year to the local economy and is ranked second in Florida in Forbes Magazine's "America's Best Employers" list. FIU graduates are consistently among the highest paid college graduates in Florida and are among the leaders of public and private organizations throughout South Florida. FIU is Worlds Ahead in finding solutions to the most challenging problems of our time. FIU emphasizes research as a major component of its mission with multiple state-of-the-art research facilities including the Wall of Wind Research and Testing Facility, FIU's Medina Aquarius Program and the Advanced Materials Engineering Research Institute.  FIU has awarded more than 220,000 degrees and enrolls more than 54,000 students in two campuses and centers including FIU Downtown on Brickell, FIU@I-75, the Miami Beach Urban Studios, and Tianjin, China. FIU also supports artistic and cultural engagement through its three museums: Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, the Wolfsonian-FIU, and the Jewish Museum of Florida-FIU. FIU is a member of Conference USA and more than 400 student-athletes participating in 18 sports. For more information about FIU, visit http://www.fiu.edu/.