ANDERSON, S.C. - After wrapping up the regular season just three days ago, the Anderson women's golf team is set to return to the links for the three-day 2016 South Atlantic Conference Championship, which begins on Sunday.

After being held in Sevierville, Tenn., for three years, this year's championship will be hosted by Wingate at the Monroe (N.C.) Country Club, with a par-72
5,981-yard layout.

Carson-Newman, the defending SAC Champion, will be aiming for its fourth league title overall and second since 2011. The Trojans placed 10th at last year's conference tournament, as AU outpaced Lenoir-Rhyne in the 11-team field. AU finished ninth in 2014 after notching three consecutive seventh-place finishes from 2011-13.

Braiden Furtick paced the Trojans with a 30th-place finish a year ago, with Arista Setro claiming 54th. Garyt Hamilton wrapped up the Trojan contingent in 57th place.

This year's Black and Gold squad features four freshmen and a pair of sophomores who will be looking compete in the SAC Championship for the first time after freshman Makalyn Poole led AU to a sixth-place finish at Tusculum's Agnes McAmis Memorial earlier this week.

Poole finished in a tie for 14th, with fellow freshman Tiffany Elam trimming four shots off her opening-round score and sharing 23rd place, alongside sophomore Riley Lovorn. Furtick, a senior, finished in a tie for 30th, while freshman Blake Hodges rounded out the Trojan contingent in a tie for 39th.

Poole leads the Black and Gold with a 79.43 stroke average in seven events this season, while winning individual medalist honors at the AU Invitational and finishing in a tie for seventh at Converse. The Williamston, S.C., native paced the Trojans in four tourneys during the season.

Elam holds the Trojans' low round of the season with a 74 on the first day at Hilton Head Lakes, while Poole and Furtick have each fired 75s on the season. Furtick finished in a tie for seventh at Cobb's Glen last September and shared fifth place at the Converse Spring Invitational. Elam led the Black and Gold effort at both the Kiawah Island Intercollegiate and the Pfeiffer Invitational