Suzanne Strudwick Interview

Meridith Hawkins interview

Chelsea Passmore interview

SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. – Carson-Newman's women's golf team shot the best round of the final day of the SAC tournament in spite of wicked weather conditions to climb two spots to third at the Sevierville Golf Club Tuesday.

The Eagles made up 10 shots to tie with Newberry and pass Queens.  Both Meridith Hawkins (Powell, Tenn.) and Chelsea Passmore (Knoxville, Tenn.) jumped 10 spots on the leaderboard to get into the tournament's top 10.  Both players earned spots on the SAC's second team all-tournament squad. 

"This was determination by our players to not let the conditions or adversity get to them," Carson-Newman head women's golf coach Suzanne Strudwick said. "The players who played well grinded and did so in spite of the terrible conditions.  This was the coldest I've been on a golf course since I was playing back in England."

Wingate won the event wire-to-wire with a team 996, the only sub-1,000 team score for the 54-hole event.  Carson-Newman had 1,015 strokes.  Johanna Neumann of Wingate was the tournament's individual medalist.  She ran away with the honor by eight strokes. 

Hawkins and Passmore both closes out the tournament with their best rounds of the three-day tour around the Highlands Course. Hawkins shot an 81 (+9) while Passmore was 10-over (82) for day three. Hawkins took a tie for seventh, while Passmore was in a tie for 10^th.

"She was so impressive as a fighter and someone who mentally keeps it together," Strudwick said of Hawkins. "It translates so well to her life.  She'll look back to this particular day and remember it for fighting and overcoming adversity.  This will give her and the rest of the team something to hold on to and remember for the rest of their lives."

Passmore competed as an individual and her score did not contribute to the Eagles' team tally. 

Danielle Bauinco (Melbourne, Fla.) and Mary Tunnell (Cordova, Tenn.) both finished inside the top 20 with an 82 (+10) and 87 (+15) for the final round. Baiunco was in a tie for 14^th while Tunnell had 17^th to herself. 

Kelli Pemberton (Knoxville, Tenn.) and Lauren Hodges finished round three with an 85 and 91, respectively. 

Strudwick said because of the course conditions, one should consider 80 to be par for the day, especially with the way team's scores came out across the board. 

C-N and Newberry were followed by No. 5 Queens at 1,026, No. 6 Catawba at 1,027, No. 7 Tusculum at 1,056 and No. 8 Lincoln Memorial at 1062.

Anderson, Lenoir-Rhyne and Mars Hill completed the field with respective team scores of 1,095, 1,113 and 1,140.

Joining Neumann and Catawba's Madison Kennedy as All-Tournament First Team honorees were Coker's Taylor Demby, who finished at 239, LMU's Sydney Gallant, who posted a 244, and Queens' Grace Glaze, who completed the event at 247.

Making up the All-Tournament Second Team were Tusculum's Sara Howard in sixth place at 249, Carson-Newman's Meridith Hawkins, Catawba's Leslie Long and Newberry's Sophia Ortiz in a tie for seventh at 250, and Carson-Newman's Chelsea Passmore, Newberry's Marianna Monaco, Newberry's Eline Askeland and Wingate's Megan Taylor in a tie for 10th at 252.

SAC teams and individuals will learn their postseason fates on April 28 when NCAA Division II Golf Championship selections are announced.