GREENSBORO, N.C. — Guilford College’s men’s golf team holds fourth place in the fourth and final Golf World/Nike Golf Division III Coaches’ Poll of the fall season released Wednesday. The rankings were made by members of the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) and included tournaments through December 1. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps Colleges passed Wittenberg College for the top spot with 382 points. Claremont-Mudd-Scripps earned 10 first-place votes, while Wittenberg received two first-place nods and 362 points. Oglethorpe University rounds out the top three, receiving one first-place vote and 347 points. Guilford collected 315 points, five better than fifth-place St. John Fisher College.
The Quakers had a solid fall campaign with four top-five finishes in as many tournaments. Guilford placed second at the season-opening Tournament Town Preview at the Grandover Resort in Greensboro Sept. 22-23 and was runner up in the Jensen-O’Briant Memorial Oct. 28-29 at the Sedgefield Country Club-Dye Course. Both tournaments featured 18 teams, many of which are ranked in this poll.
Junior Nick Shedd owns the team’s low scoring average (73.75) thanks to a first-place finish at the Jensen-O’Briant Memorial, which earned him the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Golfer of the Week Award. Freshman Tanner Gross (Archdale, N.C./Homeschool), a two-time winner of the league’s weekly honor, is close behind Shedd with a 73.80 average over 10 rounds. Classmate Brad White averaged 74.60 over the first five rounds of his college career, which stands third on the team.
Fourth-year head coach Corey Maggard’s squad is ranked fourth in the final fall 2013 Golfstat.com Division III Relative Rankings. The Quakers open the spring portion of their schedule Feb. 24-25 at the Pine Needles Intercollegiate in Southern Pines, N.C.
Dec. 9 Golf World/Nike Division III Coaches’ Poll
School (First-place votes) Points Last Year 1. Claremont-Mudd Scripps (10) 382 T-1 2. Wittenberg (2) 362 T-1 3. Oglethorpe (1) 347 11 4. Guilford 315 4 5. St. John Fisher (1) 310 5 6. Redlands 282 12 7. LaGrange (1) 278 13 8. Illinois Wesleyan 274 3 9. La Verne (1) 273 8 10. Methodist 261 6 11. Transylvania 246 7 12. Texas-Tyler 212 9 13. Greensboro 191 14 14. Rhodes 178 10 15. California Lutheran 169 16