BELCHERTOWN, Mass. -- Bates College first-year Ruby Haylock and junior Alex Voight-Shelley earned spots in the 2023 NESCAC Women's Golf Championship thanks to their performances at Saturday and Sunday's NESCAC Qualifier, hosted by Amherst at Cold Spring Country Club. 

The top four schools qualified as teams for the spring championship, with the top four individuals from schools that did not qualify also earning invitations to compete for the conference title. The Bobcats shot 664 as a team over the course of two days, good for fifth place out of eight schools. They finished 26 strokes back of fourth-place Hamilton. Williams won the event with a 603, with Amherst (608) taking second and Middlebury (623) coming in third. 

Haylock (Hartford, Maine) paced the Bobcats with a two-day score of 159, tied for 13th place out of 40 competitors. After struggling the first day, Haylock bounced back to shoot a 75 on Sunday. Voight-Shelley (State College, Pa.) will compete in the NESCAC Championship for a third straight season after finishing tied for 22nd place with her two-day score of 166. Only Bowdoin's Shivani Schmulen (158) had a lower two-day score than the Bates duo among teams who finished outside the top four.

Sophomore Maddy Kwei (Pasadena, Calif.) just missed a spot in the spring championship, finishing with a two-day score of 169 after an 81 on Sunday. Wesleyan's Chanel Hong took the final spot with a 168. 

The NESCAC Women's Golf Championship will take place April 29-30 and will be hosted by Williams College.