BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee at Martin was selected third in the Ohio Valley Conference preseason golf standings, the league announced today.
The OVC head coaches tabbed Little Rock atop the predicted order of finish with 100 points and 10 of 11 first-place votes. SIUE received the other first-place vote and 88 overall points, just ahead of the Skyhawks’ 84 points.
Morehead State (73 points) and Southern Indiana (58) rounded out the top-five and were followed by Tennessee Tech (55), Lindenwood (51), Western Illinois (29), Chicago State (27), Tennessee State (22) and Eastern Illinois (18).
UT Martin is coming off a highly successful fall semester, finishing in the top three in a trio of tournaments while adding a fifth-place effort in another. The Skyhawks took the Grover Page Classic championship with a score of 841 (-23, an event record) and combined to shoot 39-under par in each of their next two tournaments (including a 266 in the opening round of the SIUE Dolenc Invitational on Sept. 25 – five strokes better than any other OVC round in the fall term). Overall, UT Martin’s 286.5 scoring average in 15 rounds ranked third in the OVC during the fall.
On an individual front, sophomore Dax Isbell nabbed back-to-back OVC Golfer of the Week honors (Sept. 28-Oct. 5) while Jonathan Xoinis earned the OVC’s top weekly accolade on Sept. 21. Isbell’s 70.7 fall scoring average ranked fourth in the OVC while Xoinis (72.4, 14th), Jacob Uehlein (72.5, 15th), Grant Phillips (73.5, 26th) and Ethan Ray (73.7, 28th) each ranked in the top-30.
Bryson Morrell (72.0 scoring average in six rounds), Luke Caldwell (75.1 over 12 rounds), Jackson Twerdahl (75.7 in six rounds) and Garrett Chumley (76.0 over three rounds) also represented the Skyhawks in various tournaments during the fall semester.
The first of UT Martin’s seven spring events is set for Feb. 19-20 as the Skyhawks will take part in the WGV Collegiate hosted by Eastern Kentucky in St. Augustine, Fla.
