Conference Carolinas

Mount Olive Ranked First in Men’s Golf Coaches Preseason Poll

2/17/2014 12:00:00 AM

High Point, NC – Conference Carolinas Men's Golf Coaches have voted the University of Mount Olive as the top men's golf team coming into the 2014 season.

Mount Olive earned its highest national ranking during the fall and enters the spring season ranked No. 16 in the Golfstat Division II rankings. The Trojans are also ranked No. 21 in the Golf World/Nike Golf Division II Top 25.

Last year's Conference Carolinas Men's Golf Freshman of the Year Sebastian Andersen is ranked No. 17 by Golfstat among Division II individual men's golfers. A two-time Conference Carolinas Men's Golfer of the Week during the fall, Andersen won the individual title at the Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate and tied for second at the Kiawah Island Invitational.

The Trojans competed in four tournaments during the fall, earning a pair of second-place finishes to go with a fifth-place and a seventh-place finish. At the McDonough Cup in Orlando, Fla., Mount Olive beat out the Nos. 1 and 2 ranked teams in the nation. Andersen, Dalton Gore and Jesus Valderrama competed in all four-fall tournaments.

In just five years Head Golf Coach Jason Allen has done a tremendous job building the men's golf team into a competitor earning their first NCAA regional berth last year and recently being voted to finish second in this year's conference tournament by fellow conference coaches. 

Last season Erskine's men's golf team received their first ever berth to the NCAA regional tournament and finished 13^th in the 20 team field.  With all the top players returning from last year's team squad, the Flying Fleet are poised to make a run at the conference championship and earn their second NCAA regional bid. 

Junior Brad Thorne leads a talented group of returners.  Last year Thorne was the only member of the Fleet to be voted 1^st Team All-Conference as he finished in the Top 5 four times.  Fellow junior Ford Blanchard looks ready to follow up a successful sophomore year up with a career performance.  In the Fleet's four fall tournaments this year, Blanchard finished in the Top 5 three times.

The No. 22 Limestone men's golf team is picked to finish third in the Conference Carolinas preseason coaches' poll despite being the second highest rated conference team in Division II. Newly minted head coach Zack Siefert will look to lead a squad that fought to a third-place finish at the conference tournament last season.

Sophomores Clayton Presant and Matt Mullarkey led a very competitive Saints lineup. Senior Harrison Buddin and junior Cody Clepper bring veteran experience, while freshmen Will Woodard and Cabrick Waters bring an infusion of young talent.

Barton finished fourth in the poll with King fifth followed by Belmont Abbey, North Greenville, and Pfeiffer University respectively rounding-out the poll standings.

Conference Carolinas Men's Golf Pre-Season Poll  

(# of First Place Votes in Parenthesis)