BRENTWOOD, Tenn. – Little Rock has been tabbed as the preseason Ohio Valley Conference favorites for both men's and women's golf. The vote was taken by OVC head coaches as the 2023 spring schedule is about to get underway.
The Little Rock men picked eight of nine first place votes, sitting at 64 total points, followed by Tennessee Tech who received the other first place vote. SIU Edwardsville, UT Martin and Morehead State round out the top-five.
The Trojan women earned six of the seven first place votes among the league head coaches, tallying 36 first place votes. Morehead State finished second with the other first place vote with Tennessee Tech, Lindenwood and Southern Indiana projected to finish in the top-five.
Little Rock's men enter the spring ranked 39th nationally by GolfWeek and 43rd by GolfStat after a strong fall season. The Trojans posted a team scoring average of 285.73 with a pair of tournament championships and another runner-up showing. Little Rock won both the Olympic Club Intercollegiate and the Trinity Forest Invitational, finishing second at the Windon Memorial Classic as the team combined for 34 rounds of par-or-better.
Individually, Little Rock was led by
Matteo Cristoni and
Jansen Smith as the duo posted scoring averages of 71.40 and 71.60, respectively. The duo each earned OVC Golfer of the Week honors in the fall with Cristoni being named the league's Golfer of the Month for September. Cristoni is ranked 161st nationally with Smith sitting at number 175 while Little Rock is also expecting a strong spring from
Anton Albers, the reigning Sun Belt Golfer of the Year and honorable mention All-American.
On the women's side, the Trojans enter the spring ranked 149th after notching a team scoring average of 297.72 in the fall, which currently ranks as the best in program history. Little Rock posted three top-10 team finishes and had a strong finish to the fall slate, tying for sixth at its home event at Diamante before placing fifth at the Little Rock White Sands Invitational in the Bahamas.
Individually,
Agatha Alesson paced Little Rock with a 74.33 scoring average with four rounds of par-or-better. She was followed by
Kellie Gachaga's 74.58 average and
Anna Dawson's 74.67 mark as the trio each earned OVC Golfer of the Week honors with Dawson earning OVC Golfer of the Month honors for October.
Both the Little Rock men and women open the spring portion of their 2022-23 schedules February 27-28 with the women heading to Covington, Louisiana for the Tchefuncta Invitational while the men travel out west to Henderson, Nevada, for the Lake Las Vegas Intercollegiate.
The challenging spring schedules will lead up to the 2023 Ohio Valley Conference Championships in April. The women's OVC Championship will be held April 16-18 in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, followed by the men's championship April 23-26 in Cape Girardeau, Missouri.
2023 Ohio Valley Conference Golf Preseason Polls
MEN
1. LITTLE ROCK (8) – 64 pts.
2. Tennessee Tech (1) – 57 pts.
3. SIU Edwardsville – 49 pts.
4. UT Martin – 41 pts.
5. Morehead State – 39 pts.
6. Southern Indiana – 25 pts.
7. Lindenwood – 23 pts.
8. Eastern Illinois – 15 pts.
9. Tennessee State – 11 pts.
WOMEN
1. LITTLE ROCK (6) – 36 pts.
2. Morehead State (1) – 29 pts.
3. Tennessee Tech – 28 pts.
4. Lindenwood – 15 pts.
5. Southern Indiana – 14 pts.
6. Eastern Illinois – 13 pts.
7. Tennessee State – 12 pts.
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