WATERLOO, Ill. – Thirteen teams and three individuals are ready to tee it up at the 2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Women's Golf Championship, which takes place Saturday and Sunday at Annbirar Golf Course in Waterloo, Ill. Indianapolis, Drury and Missouri-St. Louis enter the postseason as the conference’s top three teams as determined by Golfstat and NCAA regional rankings.

The tournament will feature a 36-hole format on the par-72, 5,882-yard course. A total of 18 holes will be played on each day of competition, with Saturday’s competition commencing with a shotgun start at 1:30 p.m. CT, followed by tee times off both No. 1 and 10 tees beginning at 8 a.m. on Sunday.

Indianapolis, this year’s top-seeded team, owns a conference-best five GLVC Championships. Northern Kentucky (3), Drury (2), Lewis (1), Southern Indiana (1) and former league-member SIU Edwardsville (1) are also past winners of the GLVC Championship.

Last season, Southern Indiana claimed their first conference crown after posting a 614 (313-301) during the 36-hole event.  The Eagles defeated Missouri-St. Louis by four strokes to claim the title.

The 13 teams that will vie for the GLVC title this weekend are Bellarmine, Drury, Illinois Springfield, Indianapolis, Kentucky Wesleyan, Lewis, Missouri-St. Louis, Northern Kentucky, Quincy, Rockhurst, Saint Joseph’s, Southern Indiana and William Jewell. Injuries and illness have depleted the Maryville squad, so only three Saints will be making the trip to Waterloo. Since four players are needed to score for a team, they will only be competing for medalist honors.

One Saint to keep an eye on is senior Kayla Eckelkamp, who has twice been named the GLVC Golfer of the Month this year, including this past March. Eckelkamp captured medalist honors in each of the three events she entered last month, averaging 75.67 over six rounds. She recently took home first place at the UIS Spring Shootout, carding rounds of 75 and 74 to finish at 5-over 149. 

In that same tournament, seven GLVC teams competed in the 11-team field, with Missouri-St. Louis (330-308—638) scoring a second-place finish to lead the conference contingent. Daniela Viotti, the reigning GLVC Player and Freshman of the Year, finished tied for fourth at 156 (84-72) to pace the Tritons. Southern Indiana (325-324—649) and Illinois Springfield (339-324—663) were third and fourth, respectively, while Rockhurst (347-342—689) was sixth, William Jewell (365-361—726) was eighth, Quincy was ninth (374-377—751) and Maryville (405-396—801) was 10th. 

Elsewhere that weekend, the remainder of the conference squads were competing at the UIndy Spring Invitational, which was won by the host Greyhounds at 633 (308-325). Drury (310-338—648) finished second, Lewis (334-351—685), Northern Kentucky (339-372—711) and Bellarmine (336-381—717) were fourth through sixth, respectively, and Saint Joseph’s (386-437—823) and Kentucky Wesleyan (395-431—826) rounded out the field in eighth and ninth. Individually, the conference owned the top-five spots with UIndy’s Amy Thompson (77-77—154) edging out Regan Pittard (74-81—155) for medalist honors. Drury’s Lauren Michael (73-83—156) finished third, two shots out of first.

The top five finishers at the GLVC Women's Golf Championship are named All-GLVC and the top finishing individual earns medalist honors. The remaining golf awards are determined by season results.

This year's event marks the 14th annual GLVC Women's Golf Championship, and the third year in a row that the tournament will be held in Waterloo.  Annbriar is the seventh different course to have hosted the GLVC Women's Golf Championship and just the third course to have hosted in multiple years.

Admission to the 2012 GLVC Women's Golf Championship is free to the public.