Special to the News

05/21 at 12:24 AM

WILMINGTON, N.C. — The No. 4-ranked Auburn women’s golf team carded a 7-over 295 in the third round of the NCAA Championship on Thursday, placing the Tigers in eighth place heading into today’s final round.

Junior Cydney Clanton carded an even-par 72 in the round and finished the day in a tie for seventh at 1-under 215.

Auburn started on the back nine and struggled off the start, making the turn at 6-over par. The Tigers rebounded and played the front at 1-over to holds its place.

“We kind of put ourselves behind the eight ball, but somehow it is working,” said Auburn head coach Kim Evans. “We came in here with a game plan, but we have had to throw it out the window and just take what we have been dealt. I am proud of them, we are somehow holding on and we will just get back at it, re-tee it and do it again tomorrow.”

With the rough start, Evans said she is proud of her team for not letting it get to them and finishing strong.

“They finish strong and that is always a good sign,” said Evans. “It is not going as planned, but we have one more day left and maybe things will start happening for us tomorrow.”

Clanton again played steady and led the Tigers in the round with her even-par 72. She carded two birdies and two bogeys along with 14 pars and heads into the final round tied for seventh at 1-under 215.

Also ranked in the top 20 is senior Candace Schepperle. The Birmingham native carded a 2-over 74 to finish the day tied for 19th at 2-over-par 218.

“Cydney kept us in the game again and Candace keeps playing well,” said Evans. “Candace is all over a good round, just a couple of putts short of a great round. The two of them have continued to show up and play solid golf.”

Sophomore Haley Wilson also carded a 2-over 74 in the round, placing her in a tie for 49th at 8-over 224. After starting with a birdie, Wilson carded four bogeys and a double on her next five holes to drop her to 5-over for the day. She rebounded to birdie three of her next five to finish the day at 2-over.

“Haley called for help and I stayed with her for the last 13 holes,” said Evans. “She stepped up and shot 3-under on those holes and got it back to 2-over. I’m really proud of her and the way she came back, that was awesome.”

Finishing behind Wilson was fellow sophomore Patricia Sanz with a 3-over 75 on the day. She heads into the final round in a tie for 74th at 11-over 227. Freshman Carlie Yadloczky rounded out the Auburn lineup, coming in with a 9-over-par 81 to finish in a tie for 114th at 21-over 237.

In the team race, Purdue carded an 8-under 280 on Thursday to overtake the lead from Southern California. The Boilermakers head into the final round at 6-under 858, followed by Southern California at 1-over 865.

Arizona State and Alabama are tied for third at 7-over 871 while Arizona rounds out the top five at 11-over 875. Vanderbilt (879) is in sixth, followed by UCLA (882) and Auburn (884). Florida State, Texas A&M and Oklahoma State are tied for ninth at 21-over 885.

Individually, Arizona State’s Jennifer Johnson is in the lead at 9-under 207, followed by Oklahoma State’s Carolina Hedwall in second at 8-under 208. USC’s Jennifer Song and Purdue’s Maude-Aimee LeBlanc are tied for third at 6-under 210 while Purdue’s Numa Gulyanamitta rounds out the top five with a 4-under 212.

Arizona’s Margarita Ramos is sixth at 2-under 214, followed by Clanton, South Carolina’s Katie Burnett and Alabama’s Jennifer Kirby in a tie for seventh at 1-under 215. New Mexico’s Jodi Ewart, Pepperdine’s Danielle Kang, Florida State’s Jessica Negron, Duke’s Courtney Ellenbogen, Purdue’s Laura Gonzalez and Alabama’s Brooke Pancake are all tied for 10th at even-par 216.

Final-round action will begin with tee times off the Nos. 1 and 10 tees at 7 a.m. Auburn will tee off the No. 10 tee beginning at 12:25 p.m. playing alongside UCLA and Florida State.

Morris named Howser semifinalist
Junior infielder Hunter Morris has been named one of 25 semifinalists for the Dick Howser Trophy, the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association announced Thursday afternoon.

The Dick Howser Trophy is given to the top player in collegiate baseball.

A candidate for the SEC Player of the Year, Morris goes into the final weekend of the regular season leading the SEC in home runs (20), slugging percentage (.792), RBI (66) and total bases (175). He is also second in hits (88), third in triples (five) and runs scored (57), fourth in doubles (17) and fifth in batting average (.398).

The membership of the NCBWA will choose the Dick Howser Trophy based on two rounds of national voting. Three 2010 finalists will be announced just prior to the first game of the College World Series with a press conference slated for Saturday, June 10, at 10 a.m. at Rosenblatt Stadium. The winner will be named in a national broadcast from Lubbock, Texas, on Friday, July 2.

The 25 candidates hail from 13 different conferences and 24 different schools. The ACC, Big Ten, Conference USA, Ohio Valley and SEC each led the way with three semifinalists. Nine different positions afield, including five starting pitchers, four first baseman and four third basemen among this diversified group.

The Dick Howser Trophy, given in memory of the former Florida State University All-America shortstop and major league player and manager who died of brain cancer in 1987, is regarded by many as college baseball’s most prestigious award.

The 25 semifinalists are: Daniel Bibona, P, UC Irvine; Zach Cox, 3B, Arkansas; C.J. Cron, DH, Utah; Wes Cunningham, 1B, Murray State; Alex Dickerson, OF, Indiana; Mac Doyle, C, Wofford; Chris Duffy, OF, UCF; Yasmani Grandal, C, Miami (Fla.); Cole Green, P, Texas; Ben Heath, C, Penn State; Danny Hultzen, P, Virginia; Paul Hoilman, 1B, East Tennessee State; A.J. Kirby-Jones, DH, Tennessee Tech; Drew Lee, SS, Morehead State; Joe Leonard, 3B, Pittsburgh; Zack MacPhee, 2B, Arizona State; Mike McGee, UT, Florida State; Anthony Meo, P, Coastal Carolina; Hunter Morris, 1B, Auburn; Drew Pomeranz, P, Mississippi; Anthony Rendon, 3B, Rice; Jordan Ribera, 1B, Fresno State; Chance Ruffin, RP, Texas; Rob Segedin, 3B, Tulane; Chris Wimmers, P, Ohio State.

Men’s golf in 7th at South Central Regional
BRYAN, Texas — The Auburn men’s golf team is in seventh after an even par first round at the NCAA South Central Regional at the Traditions Club on Thursday. Texas native Cole Moreland made a hole-in-one and an eagle en route to a 3-under 69 and a tie for sixth to lead the Tigers.

No. 3 and host Texas A&M, along with No. 25 TCU are the co-leaders at 11-under 277 followed by No. 22 North Florida (280), No. 10 Texas Tech (282) and Wichita State (283) to round out the top five. Pepperdine is in sixth at 286, two shots better than Auburn. Baylor is in eighth at 291 with Tulsa (292), No. 16 Georgia (294), Rice (299), North Carolina (301), Georgetown (303) and Jackson State (325) trailing.

The top five teams and top individual not on those teams qualify for the 113th NCAA Men’s Golf Championship at The Honors Course in Chattanooga, Tenn., June 1-6.

“We played pretty well overall,” said Auburn head coach Nick Clinard. “We struggled out of the gate and played really well in the middle of the round. We went from 5-over to 5-under and then struggled the last two holes in which we could have played better. This is the first NCAA Regional for all five of our guys as a team. They may have had a little bit of nerves at the start, settled in during the middle and started to think about their score at the end. That is typical with younger players doing that instead of just letting it happen.”

Sophomore John Stembridge is tied for 12th with a 1-under 71 while sophomore Will McCurdy is tied for 23rd with a 72, freshman David Zickler is tied for 53rd at 76 and sophomore Kyle Kopsick is tied for 65th with an 80.

Moreland turned at 5-under after holing out for eagle from the fairway on the par-5 sixth hole, birdied Nos. 7 and 8 and then made a hole-in-one on the par-3 206-yard ninth hole with a 6-iron. The senior from Austin, Texas, recorded five birdies and a pair of eagles on the day.

“I got to 5-under pretty fast,” said Moreland, who made the second hole-in-one of his career and his first in competition. “I knew it went in. I had to hit a hard 6 to get over the bunker and landed it right where I had hoped it would, and it rolled down and happened to hit the hole and go in.”

The Tigers play the second of three rounds today.

“We have to make some putts and lot of birdies and stay in touch,” said Clinard. “We are five shots off the cutline and 11 shots out of first, and I don’t see those teams backing up. We are going to have to make more birdies and go low. We need to have more production out of David and Kyle, and they know that.”

There is a four-way tie for first individually at 6-under 66 with TCU’s Daniel Jennevret, North Florida’s Kevin Phelan, Texas A&M’s Ignacio Elvira and Wichita State’s Dustin Garza.

Four Tigers earn academic honor
Four Auburn athletes were named to the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District at-large teams, the CoSIDA office announced Thursday.

Senior swimmer Jordan Anderson was named to the First Team All-District IV, which makes him eligible for Academic All-America honors. Seniors Melissa Marik (swimming) and Krissy Voss (gymnastics) and junior Tim Puetz (tennis) were named to the second team.

Three Academic All-District teams are chosen in each district, with those on the All-District first teams placed on the national ballot for Academic All-America consideration.

Anderson, a biomedical sciences major from Roanoke, Va., was recently named the 2010 H. Boyd McWhorter Southeastern Conference Scholar-Athlete of the Year and earlier this fall earned the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. Anderson will study at Oxford University in the fall of 2010. He is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and a four-time Auburn Academic Top Tiger.

Anderson has earned College Swim Coaches Association of America (CSCAA) Academic Team accolades and is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and of the Chi Alpha Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi Honor Societies. This season, he recorded three All-America honors at the 2010 NCAA Championships and was a member of the 2010 SEC Champion 200 medley relay squad.

Marik, an applied math and actuarial sciences major from Naperville, Ill., was a finalist for the McWhorter Scholar-Athlete of the Year award and is a CSCAA Academic Team member. She is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and four-time Auburn Academic Top Tiger. Marik, a member of the National College Athlete Honor Society, earned four All-America honors this year at the 2010 NCAA Championships and was a member of the 2010 SEC Champion 400 medley relay squad.

Voss, a chemistry major from Paradise Valley, Ariz., was named the 2010 SEC Gymnastics Scholar-Athlete of the Year and is a National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches Women’s Scholastic All-American. She is a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars as well as being a four-time Auburn Academic Top Tiger and a three-time SEC
Academic Honor Roll member. Voss is a member of the Phi Kappa Phi, Chi Alpha Sigma and the Golden Key International Honor Societies. She was also named the SEC Brad Davis Community Service Leader of the Year.

Puetz, a marketing major from Usingen, Germany, is a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and a three-time Auburn Academic Top Tiger.

He has enjoyed a successful junior season, being named to the 2010 All-SEC First Team. This fall, Puetz was the 2009 Wilson/ITA Southern Regional champion in both singles and doubles. Puetz is preparing to compete in the 2010 NCAA Singles Championships and will partner with Alex Stamchev for the 2010 NCAA Doubles Championships, set to begin May 26 in Athens, Ga.