Dalton State's Sean Elliott wins the Arnold Palmer as Low Individual Scorer in the NAIA National Championship from Chris Winkle, Golf Coach at Grand View University and President of the NAIA Golf Coaches Association
Daytona Beach, FL. - Dalton State sophomore Sean Elliott joined Women's golfer Julia McQuilken in finishing the NAIA National Championships at the top of the individual leaderboards.
Elliott received the Arnold Palmer Individual National Champion Award for his medalist honors at the NAIA Championship.
Elliott fired a two-under par 70 on Friday at the Par-72, 6,947 yard Hills Course at LPGA International to finish eight strokes ahead of David Houlding of William Woods (M0.). Elliott (68-69-65-70 = 272) finished a remarkable 16 shots under par as he made his way around four days and 72-holes of golf against the toughest National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics golfers.
The rounds broke a 32-year-old 54-hole national championship scoring record and a 60-year-old national championship scoring record. Elliott's 54-hole total of 202 broke Dow Brian of Texas Wesleyan's record (205) from 1983 and his 72-hole mark of 272 bested Ray Ferguso of NorthTexas State's total (273) set in 1955.
"Its just been icing on the cake for Sean's year," said Dalton State Coach Ben Rickett. "What an accomplishment being the conference champion and the national champion. He has worked hard at it all year and I am so proud of him."
McQuilken captured the NAIA Women's Individual Medalist Award last Friday as the Lady Roadrunner finished tied for second at Savannah Quarters Country Club.
Dalton State's men's team (297-299-292-296 = 1184) ended up 13th in the tournament . Elliott along with teammates Levi Nix (75-52-72-73 = 292), Chase Jones (79-74-77-75 = 305), Max Bruck (75-84-78-78 = 315) and Anthony D'Angelo (0-0-78-79 = 157) represented our school and community well. Anthony was competing with an injured back and had to withdraw mid-way through the first two rounds.
"I am so proud of this team and what they have accomplished all year," said Rickett. "I know this week didn't go exactly to plan but just to put things into perspective know this was our first year of eligibility and the accomplishments have been outstanding. They have been a pleasure to work with and I am excited about the future of Roadrunner golf."
The Southern States Athletic Conference was well represented with Coastal Georgia (282-289-283-291 = 1,145) repeating as the NAIA National champs followed by William Woods (Mo.) with 1,156.
The teams had been cut to 17 following Thursday’s action.
1. Coastal Georgia 1145
2. William Woods 1156
3. Johnson & Wales (Fl.) 1157
4. South Carolina Beauford 1161
5. Wayland Baptist 1164
6. Texas Wesleyan 1168
7. Cal State San Marcos 1170
T8 British Columbia 1171
T8 Oklahoma City 1171
10 Webber Internatioinal 1172
11 Tennessee Wesleyan 1178
12 Grand View University 1179
13 Dalton State 1184
14 Cardinal Stritch University 1195
15 The Master’s College 1197
16 Lindsey Wilson (Ky.) 1198
17 Bethany Collee (Ks.) 1199