State College, Pa. - Penn State golfer Katie Futcher (Woodlands, Tex.) tied for seventh place at the NCAA East Regional, but missed making the NCAA Championships by a mere two strokes. The junior needed to be one of the top two individuals not on a qualifying team to make the national championships.

Futcher's final score of 1-over 217 was two shots off the score of Memphis' Meaghan Francella, who shot a score of 1-under 215. The other individual qualifier was Meredith Duncan of LSU, who shot a score of 3-under 213.

Futcher's 54-hole score is the second best in school history, while her 36-hole score of 144 tied the best in Penn State history.

Duke's Leigh Anne Hardin took the medalist honors after firing a University Club women's collegiate 54-hole record of 6-under 210. Hardin won by one stroke over Auburn's Celeste Troche and by three strokes over Duncan and Auburn's Courtney Swaim.

Second-ranked Duke held on to its second-round lead and won the regional with a final-round round of even-par 288 to finish at 5-under 859, a tournament record at the par-72 University Club. The Blue Devils won by 13 strokes.

The top eight teams and top two individuals qualified for the national championships.

Penn State's 2001-2002 season is complete.

East Regional Results:

 Team: 1 Duke -5 291 280 288 859 2 Auburn +8 287 293 292 872 3 Wake Forest +11 293 288 294 875 4 Florida +14 286 290 302 878 5 So. Florida +19 289 296 298 883 6 South Carolina +25 298 293 298 889 7 Georgia +28 300 295 297 892 8 Vanderbilt +29 296 296 301 893 Individual: 1 Leigh Anne Hardin Duke -6 71 67 72 210 2 Celeste Troche Auburn -5 69 70 72 211 T3 Meredith Duncan LSU -3 68 72 73 213 T3 Courtney Swaim Auburn -3 70 72 71 213 T5 Jameica Duncombe So. Florida -1 68 72 75 215 T5 Meaghan Francella Memphis -1 70 71 74 215 T7 Katie Futcher Penn State. +1 72 72 73 217 T7 Virada Nirapathpongporn Duke +1 75 71 71 217 T9 Kristina Engstrom Duke +2 74 70 74 218 T9 Adrienne Gautreaux So. Carolina +2 75 69 74 218 T9 Kim Tudor UCF +2 71 75 72 218 T9 Young-A Yang Tennessee +2 74 75 69 218