Tuesday, June 28, 2011

MACON, Ga. – The 2011 Atlantic Sun Golf Championship showcased a little bit of new and a little bit of old as Kennesaw State earned its first men’s golf A-Sun title and later advanced to its first NCAA Golf Championship, while Stetson took home its third-straight women’s golf conference crown. The three championships in a row for the Hatters marked only the third time in conference history the feat has been achieved.

For the Owls, who finished tied for seventh in 2010, rose within the conference behind the efforts of juniors Jeff Karlsson and Matt Nagy, who placed 1st and t-2nd at the A-Sun Championship. With the victory, Kennesaw State set new program standards for team finish, individual finish, one-day individual total, three-day individual total, one-day team total and three-day team total.

Stetson claimed the A-Sun title with four student-athletes finishing in the top-13 led by Alex Buelow’s championship medalist performance of 216 for even par. The Hatters three-year championship run is the longest in the A-Sun since 1996-98.

Although Kennesaw State and Stetson received the conference championship trophies, several other A-Sun programs saw success at the conference tournament as 16 total records were tied or broken by student-athletes and teams.

On the women’s side, Mercer’s Kimberly Graff and USC Upstate’s Amanda Hall fired a 70 and 73, respectively, in the opening round with Graff breaking the previous best mark and Hall tying the Spartans best score. FGCU’s Fabienne Haremza, the championship runner-up, carded a 72 on day two marking the third time an Eagle has registered the score. To go along with the individual score for Harmza, the Eagles finished tied for third – their best finish at the A-Sun Championship.

ETSU, FGCU, Mercer, USC Upstate and Stetson all set new records at the men’s championship. Matt Hopper’s opening round 66 for the Spartans and Patricks Spraggs’ final day 67 for the Buccaneers equaled their programs best one-day scores, while Mercer’s Hans Reimer carded a 210 over the three days to tie for second and the best three-day total in Bears’ history. Three others secured new three-day records including Hopper (214), FGCU’s Alex Medinis (212) and Stetson’s Sam Ryder (212). USC Upstate, Mercer and Stetson set new marks for best one-day team totals and overall teams totals as the Bears registered a 277 on the final day and 860 overall, while the Hatters’ 285 on day two helped them to a 890 overall. The Spartans’ 285 on day one helped them to a 866 three-day total – both program records.

Five programs competed in NCAA Regional play with Kennesaw State and Stetson earning automatic bids, while UNF’s men’s team earned an at-large bid to the tournament. ETSU’s Nina Muehl received an individual invitation as did the Campbell duo of Matt Moot and Vaita Guillaume.

In the classroom, women’s golf led all of the A-Sun programs with 79.17 percent of the student-athletes landing on the Academic All-Conference team, while the men’s golf teams sat at 60.78 percent. Both of Kennesaw State’s programs led the way with the highest percentage on the academic team.

From June 20-July 1, the A-Sun office will highlight each season of every conference sponsored sport:
June 20th: Women's Soccer
June 21st: Men's Soccer
June 22nd: Volleyball
June 23rd: Women's Basketball
June 24th: Men's Basketball
June 27th: Cross Country/Track & Field

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