Kiawah Island, S.C.----The Wingate University women’s golf team will participate in the 10th annual Tusculum/Kiawah Island Intercollegiate Saturday and Sunday. The Bulldogs are the number 50 team in the NCAA Division II rankings. The 36-hole, two-day Kiawah event will be contested at the Cougar Point Golf Club.
                                           
Entering its 10th year, the Tusculum/Kiawah Island Intercollegiate has evolved into one of the premier NCAA Division II women’s golf tournaments in the nation. The 18-team tournament field includes nine colleges and universities that are currently nationally ranked in the Golf Stat head-to-head standings.
 
Wingate freshman Lucia Careaga Herrera (Madrid, Spain) tops the Bulldog charts with her 78.9 strokes per round average. She was named to the all-tournament team at the Patsy Rendleman Invitational Oct.17-18. Careaga Herrera shot a season-best 71 in the same event.
 
Bulldog freshman Karli Soracco (Turner, Maine) averages 81.0 strokes per round. She also had her best fall round in the Rendleman event, posting a 76. Wingate sophomore Samantha Pugh-Gilder (Pinehurst, N.C.) averages 81.9 strokes per round. Classmates Kathryn Rand (Hampstead, N.C.) and Morgan Pegram (Pfafftown, N.C.) will also see action at the Tusculum/Kiawah Island Intercollegiate event.
 
The number two team in the country, Florida Southern College, returns to Kiawah for a sixth straight year. The Moccasins are the defending Kiawah champions and have won this tournament in three of the last four years (2008, 2009 & 2011). At the 2009 event, Florida Southern won in record fashion with a Kiawah Intercollegiate best 292-294=586.
 
Lynn University and Barry University occupy the number five and six positions in the national poll. Other nationally-ranked DII programs competing this weekend include: number 10 UNC Pembroke, number 34 Lincoln Memorial University, number 39 Armstrong Atlantic State University and number 50 Wingate University. Savannah College of Art and Design is also nationally ranked, listed 10th in the NAIA national poll.
 
Four South Atlantic Conference teams will be participating in this weekend’s tournament including Tusculum, Catawba College, Lincoln Memorial and Wingate. Also competing in this year’s tournament are Barton College, Belmont Abbey College, Coker College, Faulkner University, Lander University Mount Olive College, Southwestern Oklahoma State University and the University of West Georgia.
 
WINGATE UNIVERSITY
 
Founded in 1896, Wingate University is a comprehensive university with more than 2,500 students on three campuses in Wingate, Matthews and Hendersonville, N.C. The university offers 34 undergraduate majors, 37 minors and career concentrations, numerous pre-professional programs, graduate degrees in business, accounting, physician assistant studies and sports administration and doctorates in pharmacy and education.
 
Wingate students gain the tools and support they need to excel in academics and apply that learning toward an extraordinary career and life. The campus community offers in-class learning, out-of-class experiences, strong mentors, a competitive yet caring environment and rewarding community service opportunities for a complete educational experience.
 
Bulldog student-athletes compete in 19 NCAA Division II sports. Wingate University has won the South Atlantic Conference Echols Athletic Excellence Award for the past five years.
 
Wingate University is ranked number three among NCAA Division II Academic All-America® producing schools in the 2000’s with 42 honorees during this millennium. Only Pittsburg State (Kan.) University and Truman State (Mo.) University have produced more Academic All-America® honorees during this time period. Wingate’s 51 Academic All-America® honorees (lifetime) is tops among all SAC schools.
 
(Thank you to Tusculum College sports information director Dom Donnelly for contributing information to this article.)