HICKORY, N.C. – Senior Tiffany Elam equaled her lowest round of the season with a 2-under-par 70 to help lift the Anderson women's golf team up three spots to the top of the leaderboard following the second day of the 2019 South Atlantic Conference Championship on Monday.
The 54-hole, three-day tournament is being hosted by Lenoir-Rhyne at the 6,065-yard, par-72 Lake Hickory Country Club layout.
The Trojans posted a SAC Tournament-record 298 during Monday's second round, bettering Lenoir-Rhyne's 300, which the Bears notched during Sunday's first round. The previous record (301) was set by Newberry during the Wolves' tournament title run in 2012.
AU, which is bidding for its first SAC Tournament title since joining the conference in 2011, slashed 13 strokes off Sunday's opening round to snap a deadlock with Carson-Newman and vault past Coker, Wingate and the host Bears to take a two-stroke lead into Tuesday's final round.
With the nationally 22nd-ranked Trojans on top, 25th-ranked Wingate and No. 29 Lenoir-Rhyne are tied for second. No. 24 Carson-Newman is three shots further back in fourth place, with Coker holding the fifth slot. Tusculum is in sixth place, while Newberry, Lincoln Memorial, Catawba, Queens and Mars Hill finish out the 11-team field.
Carson-Newman's Maeve Cummins, the only golfer other than Elam to reach par or better on Monday, is tied for the top individual spot alongside Wingate's Diana McDonald. Lenoir-Rhyne's Megan Robb is one shot behind the leaders, with Elam and L-R's Abbey Hartsell tied for fourth - just three shots off the pace.
Elam, who posted six birdies on the day, notched the lowest round of the tourney and equaled the third-best round in SAC Tournament history.
AU freshman Kerington Lamb is tied for ninth, while junior Kate Hill, who trimmed five strokes off Sunday's opening round, enters Tuesday's final round in a share of 13th place. Freshman Victoria Hall is tied for 16th, with sophomore Anna Freeman in a 10-way tie for 18th.
Tuesday's final round is slated to get underway at 8:30 a.m.
Pos. School Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Total To Par
1 Anderson 311 298 609 +33
T4 Tiffany Elam 80 70 150 +6
T9 Kerington Lamb 75 77 152 +8
T13 Kate Hill 79 74 153 +9
T16 Victoria Hall 78 77 155 +11
T18 Anna Freeman 79 77 156 +12
Pos. School Rnd 1 Rnd 2 Total To Par
1 Anderson 311 298 609 +33
2 Wingate 301 310 611 +35
Lenoir-Rhyne 300 311 611 +35
4 Carson Newman 311 303 614 +38
5 Coker 310 306 616 +40
6 Tusculum 316 307 623 +47
7 Newberry 320 314 634 +58
8 Lincoln Memorial 318 317 635 +59
9 Catawba 315 324 639 +63
10 Queens 321 324 645 +69
11 Mars Hill 336 336 672 +96