UNCG heads to Lady Seahawk Classic

Erica Creed

UNCG at The Lady Seahawk Classic (hosted by UNCW), April 4-5, River Landing GC, Wallace, N.C.

By Rob Daniels
UNCGSpartans.com

A week after co-hosting and finishing 14^th in the prestigious Bryan National Collegiate, the UNCG women's golf team returns to action on Monday and Tuesday at the UNCW Lady Seahawk Classic at the River Landing Golf Club in Wallace, N.C.

The appearance will be the program's sixth in the event's 11-year history. The Spartans have finished in the top half of the field in four of their first five ventures, including a second-place finish to NC State in 2008. One stroke separated the Spartans and the Wolfpack that year. Current Spartan senior Erica Creed, then a freshman, won the individual title with a 54-hole total of 217.

FAMILIAR FACES: The Spartans and Seahawks will see one another for the second consecutive tournament. UNCG defeated UNCW, NC State and the College of Charleston in the Bryan, thereby beating three or more teams for the third time in the tournament's 14-year history. All three began the event ranked higher than the Spartans in both the golfweek.com and golfstat.com national ratings. The field was up to its standards associated with its name; 13 of the 17 teams were ranked in the nation's top 50 entering the tournament. That quality will likely make it one of the top 10 comprehensive regular-season events nationwide this spring.

MARTINEZ SHINES: UNCG's Ana Lucia Martinez tied for 28^th among the 90 individuals at the Bryan to pace her team's effort. Of the other 16 individuals so designated by their teams, only three surpassed Martinez' three-day total of 231. All participants played through exceptionally difficult conditions; Sunday's temperature stood at 36 degrees at the shotgun start, and it warmed up to 37 by round's end. According to data from the National Weather Service, the day was the coldest in the Bryan's 14-year history by 7 degrees.

COURSEWORK: Three Spartans have spent more than two semesters at UNCG, and all three have earned institutional academic acclaim in that time. Courtney Taylor, Martinez and Creed have been on the Dean's List, which is recognized on a semester-by-semester basis. Taylor and Martinez were also members of the Chancellor's List, which recognizes cumulative achievement, in the spring of 2010.  In the 2008-09 academic year, the most recent for which records are available, UNCG posted a perfect score of 1,000 in the Academic Progress Rate, the NCAA's "real-time" tracking system. The number is the result of four years of data that measure eligibility maintenance.

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