INDIANAPOLIS – As the spring season gears up this week for No. 24 Carson-Newman, the Eagles find themselves in the middle of the pack in the Southeast Region, sitting at fifth in the first installment of the NCAA Regional Rankings that were unveiled on Friday.
These official rankings will help build the South/Southeast Regional tournament scheduled for May 4-6 from the Irene Golf and Country Club in Memphis, Tenn., hosted by Christian Brothers University.
For each region, 10 teams, including automatic qualifiers, will play along with four individuals who are not on the teams included. Teams that win their respective conference championship will be granted automatic bids into each regional tournament. Due to this being a festival year for the Division II National Final, the typical various allotment of advancing teams from each regional will look a little different this year with each regional tournament receiving five berths to the finals.
Carson-Newman looks to make its way back to the South/Southeast Regional for the eighth time since 2008 and the fifth-straight since 2016.
Since the recent streak began, C-N has landed in the top 10 three-straight years with last year's eighth-place showing being the highest finish for the team since 2008 when it took sixth. Tom Forster was the last Eagle to surpass the regional stage and make it to the national final when he tied for 63rd in the 2018 National Championship.
Through the fall portion of the 2019-20 campaign, C-N amassed two top-three finishes, including a win at the North Georgia Fall Invitational. Coach Randy Wylie's group holds a 72.21 scoring average through the first four events of the season.
On the individual side, the Eagles have totaled six top 10 finishes, one of those being a title win at the UNG Fall Invitational for Tom Forster (Oundle, England). Forster and Alex Hodge (Knoxville, Tenn.) have accounted for a combined five of those six top 10 showings, the other coming from Fintan McKenna, also at the UNG Fall Invitational.
Carson-Newman is one of three South Atlantic Conference teams to land in this first batch of region rankings with No. 7/11 Lincoln Memorial one slot ahead at fourth and Queens at eighth.
The next bunch of region rankings is set to be posted on March 27. The Orange and Blue are set to play in four events between now and then. All of that begins with a trip to St. Augustine, Fla. for the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate. That two-day event begins on Monday, Feb. 10.
SOUTHEAST REGION
1 Georgia Southwestern
2 South Carolina Aiken
3 Columbus State
4 Lincoln Memorial
5 Carson-Newman
6 Flagler
7 Limestone
8 Queens (North Carolina)
9 Lander
10 Southern Wesleyan
