It’s tough enough to qualify for NCAA regional tournaments that Colorado men’s golf coach Roy Edwards never put much stock in a championship-round drought that ended in 2023.

Since the current format was adopted in 1989, the Buffs have qualified for regional play 24 times in 36 seasons. That’s the consistency Edwards prefers to look at, yet the degree of difficulty in reaching the national finals also is what has made his team’s recent run even more impressive.

For the second time in three seasons, CU is headed to the NCAA championships, as it used a stellar final round to finish third at the Northwest Regional earlier this week. It will be the Buffs’ sixth appearance in the championship round since the regional format began three and a half decades ago. The finals begin May 23 in Carlsbad, Calif.

“It’s really, really hard to get to the finals,” Edwards said. “First of all, you have to have a pretty good regular season to make the regionals, at least. And to come to these regional sites and navigate your way through a bunch of really good teams that are all usually playing their best is a big challenge. For this team to do that, a lot of the same guys as two years ago, is certainly very special.”

The core of this year’s lineup — Justin Biwer, Dylan McDermott and Hunter Swanson — also competed for CU’s 2023 finals team, as did Jack Holland, who served as the alternate during this week’s regional tournament. The group struggled to build on their 2023 success, falling short of a regional berth last year, but Edwards credited his club for using those struggles as motivation.“Last year’s season is probably the reason we’re heading back this year,” Edwards said. “The struggles of last year really allowed us to look at everything that we do in getting better. The guys took it upon themselves to really work at it and compete and listen and be coached and just believe in themselves. That turned into this great season this year that we look forward to keep going deeper into the championship here.”

Big 12 finals

The Colorado track and field program began competition at the Big 12 championships Thursday, with sophomore Abbey Nechanicky getting things started for the Buffaloes with a third-place finish in the women’s 10K. Nechanicky finished in 33 minutes, 51.54 seconds to earn All-Big 12 honors. Gustavo Alfonso finished seventh in the men’s javelin, recording a personal-best mark of 64.78 meters.

The Big 12 outdoor track and field championship continues through Saturday at Rock Chalk Park in Lawrence, Kan. The entire event is available at ESPN+.

Notable

Earlier this week, the CU volleyball team announced the addition of UNC Charlotte transfer Peyton Neal. A defensive specialist/libero, Neal has two seasons of eligibility remaining. … After sending a conference-record 11 teams into the regional fields, the Big 12 will have five teams competing at the NCAA men’s golf championship — CU, Arizona State, Oklahoma State, Texas Tech and BYU. … While it will be CU’s sixth NCAA men’s golf championship appearance of the regional-format era (since 1989), it will be the Buffs’ 17th appearance overall, dating back to 1947.