Women’s Golf Coaches Pick Queens as Preseason Favorite
High Point, NC> The Queens University of Charlotte women's golf team comes in ranked first in the Conference Carolinas Women's Golf Preseason Coaches' Poll for the second consecutive year. Queens will be in the hunt to repeat as conference champions in 2013 this season despite losing four seniors to graduation.
Currently leading the Royals is newcomer Grace Glaze, who won conference player of the week during week four of the fall season after collecting her first collegiate tournament title at the Anderson Invitational. She, along with the rest of Queens' strong freshman class, will be expected to help lead Queens to their second title after their impressive play in the fall. Providing leadership for Queens is senior Laura Belanger, who completed last season's conference tournament tied in fifth place individually.
Mount Olive is coming off its best season in school history and despite losing last year's Conference Carolinas Player of the Year and Conference Carolinas Tournament Champion, the Trojans put together an outstanding fall season.
Mount Olive had its best performance at the King College Invitational as the Trojans won the team championship by 30 strokes and senior Emelie Andersson took the individual title with a birdie on the second playoff hole.
Mount Olive also put a dent in the team and individual school record book. Freshman Virginia Lane became the first Trojan to card an even-par 72, while Andersson twice matched the previous 18-hole school record of 73. As a team, the Trojans carded three of the four lowest 36-hole scores in school history, including a school record 331 to tie for sixth out of 17 teams at the Flagler Fall Slam, comprised primarily of teams from the Peach Belt and Sunshine State Conferences.
King College rounds out this year's coach's poll top-three in the third position. Freshman Elizabeth Swallow will help lead the Lady Tornado golf squad after a strong fall season that included two top-5 individual finishes and four top-10 performances. She averaged 77.38 strokes per round to lead the team, twice hitting a low of 75 at the Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate and Patsy Rendleman Invitational. Sophomores Anna Walker (83.50) and Cortnee Young (84.13) shore up the 2-3 spots in the King lineup and if senior Esther Gandarias can return to All-Conference form from her junior year, King is primed for a strong finish come conference tournament time.
Rounding out the women's golf preseason poll 4-10 was: Erskine & Pfeiffer (tied), Coker & Converse (tied), Limestone, Belmont Abbey, North Greenville and Barton respectively.
Conference Carolinas Preseason Coaches Poll
(First place votes in parentheses)
| 1. Queens University of Charlotte |
(6) |
96 |
| 2. Mount Olive College |
(4) |
91 |
| 3. King College |
|
63 |
| T4. Erskine College |
|
60 |
| T4. Pfeiffer University |
|
60 |
| T6. Coker College |
|
49 |
| T6. Converse College |
(1) |
49 |
| 8. Limestone College |
|
41 |
| 9. Belmont Abbey College |
|
36 |
| 10. North Greenville University |
|
31 |
| 11. Barton College |
|
29 |