GREENEVILLE, Tenn. --- The Tusculum College men's golf team will venture to nearby Sevierville for the 2014 Food Lion South Atlantic Conference championship. The three-day, 54-hole tournament is being held at the Sevierville Golf Club - River Course for a second straight year.
Tusculum, under the direction of head coach Bob Dibble, will be vying for its first South Atlantic Conference title and sixth league crown, overall. The Pioneers have finished runner-up in this event three times, the most recent in 2012. Last year, the Pioneers finished fifth at the SAC Championship.
Greeneville senior Dakota Norton is leading the charge for the Pioneers as the local product owns the best stroke average on the team at 74.67. Norton enters the SAC Championship with loads of momentum, finishing runner-up at the J. Ralph Hargett Memorial with 74-73=147. He also finished second at the State Farm Intercollegiate and 13th at the Tusculum Fall Classic. Norton has accounted for four top-20 performances, including twice in the top-five. This will be his second trip to the SAC Championship, after finishing 28th at last year's event.
Sophomore Nick Forsberg is right behind Norton with his 74.78 stroke average. Forsberg, a product of Staples, Minn., earned All-SAC second honors as a freshman last season and has posted five top-20 outings this year. He accounted for three top-10 performances as well including ninth at the Walters State Fall Classic and 10th at the State Farm Intercollegiate and 10th at the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate. His 74.76 career stroke average is currently the third lowest in program history. Forsberg finished 22nd at last year's SAC Championship.
Junior Warren Cheney will be making his third consecutive SAC Championship appearance. The Nashville, Tenn. native is third on the team with his 75.68 scoring average, which includes five top-20 finishes and three top-10 outings. His best finish came at the State Farm Intercollegiate where he tied for runner-up honors with 68-72=140. He also finished seventh at the Tusculum Fall Classic and eighth at the Tusculum Invitational. In his last trip to Sevierville, he finished 12th at the Smoky Mountain Intercollegiate. He shot 77-83-75=235 to finished 30th at the SAC Championship in 2013.
Junior Coleman Glick is making his first trip to the SAC Championship as the Columbus, Ind. native is fourth on the team with his 75.84 scoring average. Glick has three top-20 showings, including two times in the top-10. He finished sixth at the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate with 70-71-73=214 and tied for eighth at the Tusculum Invitational with 70-74=144.
Fall Branch, Tenn. sophomore Leif Ratliff is also making his SAC Tournament debut this week in Sevierville. In his six events this year, he has a 77.75 scoring average which includes a fifth place finish at the Tusculum Fall Classic with 69-71=140.
The winner of the 2014 Food Lion SAC Championship will earn the league's automatic berth to next month's NCAA Division II Tournament.
- TC -
