Rollins Women, NSU Men Hold Lead Heading Into Final Round at SSC Golf Championships
The Rollins women and the Nova Southeastern men hold the lead after two rounds of the 2009 Sunshine State Conference Golf Championships. The final 18 holes will be played on Tuesday at the Lake Region Yacht & Country Club in Winter Haven, Fla. Florida Southern is serving as host for this year's tournament.
Rollins (298-300=598) held a two-stroke lead over Lynn (300-307=607) after the first round of play, then bested the Fighting Knights by seven strokes in the second round to build a nine-stroke lead. Nova Southeastern held steady in the third spot after two rounds (304-312=616). Florida Southern (316-303=619) and Barry are nipping on the Sharks' heels (309-311=620) in fourth and fifth place, respectively.
Individually, Rollins' Brianna Seo fired a 147 (73-74) to take the early lead. Teammate Joanna Coe sits just behind her on the leaderboard with a 148 (73-75). Barry's Johanna Soderstrom (75-74) and Rollins' Daniela Vargas (73-76) are tied for third with a 149.
In men's action, Nova Southeastern (290-275=565) scorched the course with a second-round 275 to take the top spot on the leaderboard. Barry (286-280=566), which led after one round, sits just one stroke behind the Sharks. Rollins (293-285=578) occupies third place heading into the final round.
Individually, NSU's Greg O'Mahony leads the pack with a 136 (70-66). O'Mahony sunk a hole in one on the third hole of round two. Barry's Carlos Velez shot a 138 (72-66) to assume second place, while Rollins' J.D. Guinney is third with a 139 (71-68).
Links to complete two-round results are available on the SSC Scoreboard.
The 2009 Sunshine State Conference Golf Championships will be held April 20-21 at the Lake Region Yacht & Country Club in Winter Haven, Fla. Florida Southern is serving as host for this year’s event. Teams will play 36 holes on Monday, followed by 18 on Tuesday.
With a slew of teams annually among the top in NCAA Division II, the SSC championships are always highly competitive.
The women’s championship features five of the top six teams in the nation. Leading the field will be No. 1 Nova Southeastern, which won last year’s conference championship and was runner-up at the NCAA Division II Championship. No. 2 Florida Southern was the 2007 league champion and DII national champion. No. 3 Rollins is the defending national champion and reeled off a string of four straight SSC titles from 2003-2006. The Tars also won the Division II national championship each of those four years.
Also among the nationally-ranked women’s contenders are No. 4 Lynn, No. 6 Barry, and No. 24 Saint Leo. Lynn has posted top-five finishes in all nine of the tournaments in which it has played this season. Barry has notched six top-five finishes in eight events. Enjoying the best season in program history, Saint Leo has tallied three top-five finishes, including two first-place results.
Florida Tech and Eckerd will also vie for the SSC crown. Tech senior Daniela Iacobelli was the individual champion at the 2007 NCAA DII Championship.
The men’s field will also feature a number of nationally-ranked teams. No. 5 Nova Southeastern claimed the SSC title in 2005 and 2007. The Sharks reeled off four consecutive top-three finishes to end their regular-season schedule and finished no lower than seventh in the nine tournaments in which they competed. No. 6 Florida Southern won the 2008 conference championship and posted six top-five finishes in eight events. No. 8 Lynn, the 2006 league champion, finished in the top five in seven of nine events.
No. 13 Barry, which won the DII National Championship in 2007, placed in the top five at four tournaments. No. 24 Rollins has three top-five performances to its credit.
Eckerd, Florida Tech, Saint Leo, and Tampa will also be among the schools in the title hunt. Florida Tech received votes in the latest DII men’s golf poll.
