The
2008 University of North Alabama golf team
will have to live up to some high
expectations, but that’s nothing new for a
Lions’ program that has played in seven NCAA
championship tournaments since 1996.
UNA won its
third NCAA Division II South Regional
Championship last Spring and the Lions not
only return four of its starters from that
2007 regional championship team but also
have back two All-Americans in senior Daniel
Creel and junior Wes Smith.
Creel, from
Killen, Ala., earned first-team All-American
honors from the Golf Coaches Association of
America and Smith, from Florence, was a
second-team All-American pick. Creel
finished second in the 2007 South Regional
with rounds of 73, 73 and 65. Smith finished
just two strokes back in third with rounds
of 73, 70 and 70.
Also back from
last season’s regional championship squad
are sophomore Brett Munson of Louisville,
Ky., and senior Matt Gourgeot of Decatur,
Ala. Munson finished tied for 11th in the
regional with a 220 total, while Gourgeot
tied for 15th at 222.
Sophomore Alex
Hirai of Sao Paulo, Brazil also returns for
the Lions.
In 2007 the
Lions had a remarkable 96-20 spring record
that included winning the Grover Page
Classic in Jackson, Tenn., the Bobcat
Invitational in Cuscawilla, Ga., and the
Southeast Regional at the Robert Trent Jones
Golf Trail at the Shoals. In addition, North
Alabama was second at the UNA Fall Classic
and the Otter Invitational in Monterey Bay,
Calif. The 96-20 mark was also by far the
best Spring record in the history of the
Lion golf program that dates back to the
1950s.
UNA came back
strong in the fall, , even without Creel,
who sat out the semester so that he could
use his final semester of eligibility this
Spring.
The Lions added
juniors Ethan Brown of Madison, Ala., and
Caleb Pope of Florence, along with sophomore
Wes Coleman of Athens, Ala. and freshman
David Gies of Charlotte, N.C. to the roster
for the Fall of 2007.
First, the
Lions finished third in a 16-school field in
the Kiawah Island Invitational, hosted by
perennial Division II power South
Carolina-Aiken. After a 14th place finish at
the AFLAC/Cougar Invitational, UNA won the
Derrall Foreman Invitational at Delta State,
downing 12 other teams. The Lions followed
with a win in their own Fall Classic and
tied for fourth in the Indian Bayou Classic
in Destin, Fla.
North Alabama
opens its 2008 Spring schedule in Lakeland,
Fla., at the Matlock Classic, hosted by
Florida Southern. The Lions will then host a
junior varsity tournament on Feb. 25-26 at
the Florence Country Club. UNA will play at
the Southeastern Collegiate on March 17-18
and the Bobcat Invitational on March 24-25
before hosting the UNA Spring Classic at the
Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail of the Shoals
on March 31-April 1.
The Lions play
at the Argonaut Invitational in Pensacola,
Fla., on April 7-8 and will compete for the
Gulf South Conference championship on April
21-22 in Hot Springs, Ark.
UNA has
competed in the NCAA South Regional nine
times in the last 12 years and has advanced
to the Division II National Championships in
1996, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007.
The Lions have averaged better than 60 wins
per Spring season for each of the last eight
years and have taken a position of national
prominence in Division II under the guidance
of Billy Gamble.
