Monica San Juan saved her best for last – or what the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga senior golfer thought was her last collegiate event.
San Juan shot a three-day total 215 in Hilton Head to win the individual title at the Southern Conference Women’s Championship held at Moss Creek Golf Club. It was her first win as a Moc, and she finished at 1 under par, four shots ahead of Furman’s Haylee Harford and East Tennessee State’s Hee Ying Loy.
“I’m very excited,” said San Juan, who had rounds of 71, 70 and 74 to become the program’s sixth SoCon medalist. “I’m glad that even though this is my last tournament I could get this win. I’ve been very close a couple of times, but I haven’t been able to finish the tournament and put three rounds together. I finally did it, and it being in the conference it was extra special.”
San Juan’s career now will extend at least to an NCAA regional in May. The date and location will be announced next week.
UTC finished in a tie for second place with ETSU at 905, 14 shots behind champion Furman, winning for the fifth year in a row. The Mocs were only three shots back entering Tuesday’s final round before shooting 304, while Furman shot a sizzling 293. UTC’s Kirsty Beckwith finished seventh overall with a 225 total, and Rheagan Hall tied for 15th at 230.
“It was a pretty solid first couple of days,” said coach Colette Murray, whose team was without No. 2 player Maddy McDanel, who was out with illness. “The weather was very windy the first two days, which played to our advantage. The wind didn’t really blow today and that enabled Furman to do what they do – threw some darts, made their putts.
“I couldn’t be any happier for Monica,” Murray said. “What a great way to end her college career. She was great and she’s been great for four years, and I really feel like she could have more wins. If you are only going to win one, though, she won the right one.”
The men golfers finished seventh at 2-under 862 in the 15-team Old Waverly Collegiate in Mississippi, as Oliver Simonsen tied for 13th at 213 and Connor Nolan and Will Porter shot 213 and 215. Porter had a 71 Tuesday.
Men’s tennis honors
The UTC men’s tennis team received a trio of SoCon individual honors Tuesday as Chuck Merzbacher was named coach of the year, Kerim Hyatt freshman of the year and junior Niklas Gerdes the recipient of the Don Bunch/Buddy Hartsell Sportsmanship Award.
Merzbacher directed the Mocs to a 14-10 overall record, the team’s best mark since 2012, and 4-3 in the SoCon. They will be the No. 3 seed at the conference tournament starting Thursday in Macon. Hyatt’s initial regular season ended with a 14-10 overall record and 5-2 in the SoCon.
Gerdes, who was 20-10 (16-7 in league play), also named to the All-SoCon first team, while Hyatt and Simon Bustamante were first-team doubles honorees. Gerdes and Tomas Rodriguez were named to the doubles second team, with Rodriguez joining Hyatt on the all-freshman team.
Mercer’s Olivier Stuart was the player of the year.
Softball Mocs roll
The UTC softball team belted Belmont 8-1 in Nashville with a four-run fourth inning and a three-run seventh Tuesday night.
Belmont’s Baylee Cook led off the bottom of the first inning with a home run off Allison Swinford (7-3), but the Bruins (26-18) did not score again and UTC (26-12) immediately got even in the second with a Hayleigh Weissenbach sacrifice fly scoring Halie Williamson. Weissenbach added a two-run double in the fourth, ahead of Devan Brown’s two-run single, and Williamson followed Emma Sturdivant’s sac fly in the seventh with a two-run homer.