April 17, 2012

Eagles solid in final round to claim third in SAC Tournament

CONOVER, N.C. – Junior Gavin Hay and sophomore Jonathan Kim-Moss both finished in a tie for fourth and the Carson-Newman Eagles had the second lowest team score in final round to finish third at the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Championships, which concluded Tuesday at Rock Barn Golf Club. Hay and Kim-Moss tied for fourth to make the All-Tournament Team with a 7-over total of 223 for their three rounds. Kim-Moss tied econd lowest round of the tournament with a 2-under 70 on Tuesday, while Hay closed with a 73 (+1).

CONOVER, N.C. – Junior Gavin Hay and sophomore Jonathan Kim-Moss both finished in a tie for fourth and the Carson-Newman Eagles had the second lowest team score in final round to finish third at the 2012 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference Championships, which concluded Tuesday at Rock Barn Golf Club.

Hay and Kim-Moss tied for fourth to make the All-Tournament Team with a 7-over total of 223 for their three rounds. Kim-Moss tied econd lowest round of the tournament with a 2-under 70 on Tuesday, while Hay closed with a 73 (+1).

With Wingate in control by 27 shots after two rounds, the Eagles did what they could to break a three-way tie at third and lock up a likely at-large bid in the NCAA Tournament. The Eagles beat Anderson and Lincoln Memorial on the final day to claim sole possession of third.

The top-three finish give the Eagles two team titles, five top three finishes and two more top fives in the 2011-2012 season. If C-N receives an NCAA at-large bid, the Eagles should be right at home along with its SAC competitors at the 2012 Southeast Super Regional. The event will be played May 5-7 on the same course as this week's SAC Championships, the Jones Course at Rock Barn G.C.

Senior Liam Ashby, the 2012 SAC Golfer of the Year had his best round of the tournament with a 75 in Tuesday's final round to finish 22^nd.

Fellow Alex Coughlin finished tied for 28h with a three-round 235 and shot a 79 on Tuesday, while Michael Horenkamp closed the tournament in 37^th after a an 80 on Tuesday for a total of 242.

Paced by three of the top seven individual scores, Wingate combined to shoot a three-round total of 13-over-par 877 to win the championship. As a team, Wingate carded rounds of 292, 284 and 301 to finish 15 strokes ahead of second-place Newberry, which ended with a team score of 892.

By winning the SAC title, Wingate earns an automatic berth to the 2012 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship

Newberry's Matthew Campbell shot rounds of 69, 71 and 75 for a final score of one-under 215 to win the Championship's individual medal. Wingate's Braden Jackson was second with a 220.

The Eagles finished with a total score of 912, followed by No. 4 Anderson at 918 and No. 5 Lenoir-Rhyne at 920.

Hay and Kim-Moss finished the event at seven-over, tying Wingate's Antoine LeSaux, Lincoln Memorial's Eric Kennedy, and Newberry's Jon Weiss for a fourth-place individual finish of 223. All five student-athletes tied for the final spot on the All-Tournament First Team, joining Campbell, Jackson and Blanquicet.

The All-Tournament Second Team was made up of Catawba's Matt Hardman, LMU's Jamie Chapman, Wingate's Brian Denton, L-R's David Glenister, Brevard's Kim Koivu and Tusculum's Nick York.