The Virginia and Auburn men’s golf teams each shot a 12-under-par 276 Friday and shared the first-round lead in the Carpet Capital Collegiate Classic at The Farm in Rocky Face, Ga.
Alabama is third out of 14 teams at 281, and South Carolina, LSU and Clemson are tied for fourth at 283 with Tennessee and Florida at 284, Georgia Tech at 286 and Kennesaw State at 287.
Dalton State is tied for 11th with North Florida at 293, and the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga is 13th at 299 with Memphis 14th at 303 in the three-day tournament.
Florida’s Sam Horsfield took the individual lead with a 65, two shots better than second-place Jimmy Stanger of Virginia. Dalton State’s Ben Rebne from Heritage High School is tied for 33rd at 72, while teammate Chase Cole and UTC’s Wes Gosselin are tied for 41st at 73 and DSC’s Dalton Johnson and Sport Allmond and the Mocs’ Lake Johnson share 47th at 74. Andrew Weathers and Brooks Thomas shot 75 and 77 to complete UTC’s counting scores.
“It was a frustrating day,” UTC coach Mark Guhne said in a school release. “We got off to a slow start and never turned it around. We need to stop counting 77s. You just can’t be the team we think we are and do that. The good news is we have the talent to get it done. It just didn’t show today.”
UTC runners third
UTC’s cross country teams both finished third to Middle Tennessee State and Alabama in the Mocs’ 25th PowerAde Invitational on Friday at Moccasin Bend.
MTSU had the top five women’s finishers and four of the first five men, led by Agnes Abu in 11:11.17 and Sampson Laari in 14:52.26.
Southern Conference members Samford and Mercer were fourth and fifth out of seven NCAA Division I women’s teams and fifth and sixth in the men’s division.
UTC’s Maddison Melchionna was eighth with Jessica York, Hannah Chamblin, Anna Kate Chance and Haley Morris 12th, 14th, 17th and 18th in the two-mile race, and the Mocs’ Paul Stuart was seventh with Nathan Watson, Brennan Huber and Mark Britt 11th, 12th and 17th in the 5k.
Sewanee defeated Covenant in both non-Division I races, 15-50 for the men and 25-33 for the women. Jackson Goodwin and Mark McAlister paced the male Tigers, and Sewanee’s Katie Jannotta and Covenant’s Lilly Smith were the top women for the area Division III teams.