College golf has completed the first half of the season. Area teams have something to celebrate during the break between the fall and the spring seasons.

Anderson will spend the holidays as the top ranked women’s Division II team in the country. The Trojans won their last two events to move to the top of the poll.

The Wofford women’s team ended the fall season with their first tournament title since since February of 2022 and the Upstate Spartan’s men’s team ended a longer victory drought with their first win since the 2019 season.

Anderson is #1 in NCAA DII

The Anderson Trojans finished the first half of the season with the best record in the history of the program.

The Trojans notched three wins and a pair of runner-up finishes to end the fall season as the top ranked team in the county.

“To finish the fall with three wins and two runner-up finishes is without question the greatest fall season in Anderson University golf history,” said the Trojans Director of Golf and Women’s coach Denton Moore. ” I can’t imagine any world where we are not the No. 1 ranked team I the nation heading into the spring,” he said.

The rating service agreed and the Trojans will spend the holidays enjoying their place at the top of DII Women’s Golf.

Last year it was the Trojan men’s team that ended the fall in the same spot in the polls and took a number one ranking into the spring,

After a pair of second place finishes to start the fall, the Trojans broke almost every record in their book with a win at the Lee Ann Noble Memorial.

The Trojans set 18, 36 and 54 hole scoring records on their way to the team’s third straight win in the event.

“Shooting 27 under was almost unreal to me out there. I felt like every time I turned around someone was making another birdie,” recalled Moore.

Kennedy Gooding broke her own scoring record carding a 65 in the second round. She finished the tournament as the runner-up, but now has all the individual records at Anderson.

After setting record and winning the Trojans didn’t take their foot off the gas and rolled to their second straight win.

Junior Ally Francis earned her first college win leading the Trojans to a win at the St. Leo Invitational.

The victory continued a recent trend. The Trojans can take their game on the road, into the heart of Florida, where the top ranked DII teams usually take advantage of non-Florida teams to pad their records.

‘It is just brutally hard to win in the state of Florida. I think this is only the third time in program history. This is where the best teams in the region usually are, and the field are always stacked. This win is one I will remember for a long time” noted Moore.

The third straight win came at the Ralph Hayes Toyota D2 Elite Invitational. The tournament field included the top-three teams in the country and eight of the top-25.

The Trojans won the tournament over a stacked field by shooting a 4-under par total.

Gooding matched her record setting performance earlier in the season to finish second and Francis was just a shot behind in third place.

While Gooding and Francis recorded the best individual finishes during the fall, Moore is quick to point all the Trojans have shown the ability to produce winning performances.

The Trojans starting five include Paige Paolucci, Kennedy McGaha and Zoey Iglesias. Each one contributed top-10 performances during the fall season.

Moore is convinced there is more great golf ahead for the team, but they are going to enjoy the break and the holidays.

“It’s hard to do what they have done this fall, and they deserve a long break to soak it all in,” concluded Moore.

The Trojans resume the season after the holidays in February.

Upstate wins team title, Spartan’s Prentice is medalist at Fripp Island

The Upstate Spartans ended a five year drought by winning the team title at the Fripp Island Intercollegiate.

The Spartans were led by Alec Prentice who tied for medalist honors. The Upstate Sophomore from New Zealand shot a program record 63 in the second round and went on to finish the tournament on the Ocean Creek Course with a 7-under par 206 total.

The Spartans were the only team in the field to finish under par besting the field and the windy conditions. The team’s 851 total was the fourth best in school history and earned Upstate a four-shot win.

“Winning at this level never comes easy, and the effort these past three days was exactly what you want to see,” said Upstate coach Todd Lawton. “From Alec posting a school record to the consistency across our lineup, this tournament was a win for us,” he said.

While Prentice turned in a winning performance the Spartans finished the tournament with four golfers in the top-15.

Jackson Stone and Herman Hoist tied for eighth with Cameron Biddle finished tied for 13th.

“Seeing our score at the top of the leaderboard is just the icing on the cake. We’ve had our struggles the past couple of years, but I really feel this group is just getting started,” said Lawton.

The experience of playing well and winning on the Fripp Island course should help Upstate later this year when the Spartans return to the course to play the Big South Championship in April.

Wofford women’s win title at the Fripp Island Intercollegiate

Regina Parra and Bella Kent led the Terriers to the team title at the Fripp Island Resort.

After a first round that had Terrier coach Angie Ridgeway wondering if the team had made the trip from Spartanburg. Wofford caught fire in the second and third round to claim the win.

“I was worried after the first round,” said the Wofford coach. “The conditions were perfect the first day and we did not play well. The conditions became more difficult and we played better the rest of the tournament,” said the coach.

After the difficult start the Terriers fired their way to the win with much better play in the second and third rounds. The Terriers finished the tournament with a four stroke victory over runner-up Gardner-Webb.

“When it was super windy on the second and third days, the team showed that they were up for the challenge. We had the lowest team score both days, and we came out on top! I’m so proud of them,” said RIdgeway.

Individually five of the Terriers finished in the top 15. Parra and Kent tied for fourth place. Maggie Jackson tied for eighth place while Taylor Burch tied for fourteenth place with teammate Delaney Wade, who played the event as an individual entrant.

“I was really pleased that each of our players were able to contribute a counting score during the tournament. You need everyone to be contributing to have success at this level,” said Ridgeway.

The win was the first for the Terriers since capturing the title at The Island Classic in February of 2022.

In what appears at this point in the season to be a wide open race for the SoCon championship Ridgeway believes her team can figure in the race for the championship.

“There are several really good teams in the SoCon this year. I think if we can keep playing the way we did at Fripp we can be in the running for a championship,” concluded the Wofford coach.