Hurricanes Ranked No. 21 In Preseason DII Poll
AMERICUS - The Georgia Southwestern State University men's golf team enters the 2012-13 season ranked No. 21 in the country according to the Golf World/Nike Golf NCAA Division II Preseason Coaches' Poll released Wednesday by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA).
The Hurricanes are one of six Peach Belt Conference schools to appear in the season's first national poll. USC Aiken sits at No. 5, Georgia College is ranked No. 8, UNC Pembroke comes in at No. 18 with Armstrong two slots behind GSW at No. 23 and Columbus State is at No. 24.
Defending D-II national champion Nova Southeastern heads the list after receiving 15 first-place votes and 424 points total. Barry, Cal State Chico and Cal State Stanislaus are ranked second through fourth.
The Hurricanes return six players from last season's squad that won three events and earned a No. 1 national ranking in Golfstat, including All-PBC selections J.P. Griffin (2012) and Nate Gahman (2011). GSW made its first appearance in the NCAA Championships last spring when Griffin qualified as an individual for the season-ending event. The Glennville native fared well amongst the Division II elite, finishing ninth out of 108 players.
Southwestern opens its fall season on Sept. 17-18 at the Kiawah Island Invitational in Kiawah Island, S.C.
Below is the complete 2012 Preseason Golf World/Nike Golf NCAA Division II Coaches Poll.
| Rank | University (First Place Votes) | Points | 2012 NCAA Finish |
| 1 | Nova Southeastern (15) | 424 | 1 |
| 2 | Barry | 417 | Quarterfinals |
| 3 | Chico State | 334 | 2 |
| 4 | CSU-Stanislaus | 324 | Semifinals |
| 5 | South Carolina-Aiken | 319 | Quarterfinals |
| 6 | Lynn (1) | 310 | N/A |
| 7 | Central Oklahoma | 307 | Semifinals |
| 8 | Georgia College (1) | 305 | Quarterfinals |
| 9 | Western Washington | 287 | 9 |
| 10 | Central Missouri | 229 | Quarterfinals |
| 11 | West Florida | 226 | N/A |
| 12 | North Alabama | 208 | N/A |
| 13 | Abilene Christian (1) | 200 | N/A |
| 14 | St. Edward's | 186 | 13 |
| 15 | Florida Southern | 168 | N/A |
| 16 | Indianapolis | 141 | T11 |
| 17 | CSU-Monterey Bay | 138 | N/A |
| 18 | North Carolina-Pembroke | 122 | 10 |
| 19 | Grand Canyon | 119 | 16 |
| 20 | Colorado School of Mines | 102 | T11 |
| 21 | Georgia Southwestern State | 91 | N/A |
| 22 | Barton | 83 | N/A |
| 23 | Armstrong Atlantic State | 75 | N/A |
| 24 | Columbus State | 72 | N/A |
| 25 | Washburn | 71 | 15 |
| Others Receiving Votes: Rollins, 62; Florida Institute of Technology, 55; CU-Colorado Springs, 53; Cameron, 47; Caron-Newman, 37; Grand Valley State, 36; Indiana University of Pennsylvania, 25; Hawaii-Hilo, 23; Sonoma State, 23; Wilmington (DE), 20; Bellarmine, 18; Ferris State, 18; Belmont Abbey, 16; Wingate, 15; Newberry, 14; St. Mary's (TX), 13; Eckerd, 9; Missouri-St. Louis, 9; St. Thomas Aquinas, 9; Concord, 8; North Georgia, 8; Post, 8; Delta State, 7; Colorado State-Pueblo, 6; Northeastern State, 6; Tiffin, 6; Ashland, 5; Clayton State, 5; Valdosta State, 5; Coker, 4; Oklahoma Christian, 4; Dixie State, 3; Mesa State, 3; Wayne State (MI), 3; Dallas Baptist, 2; Arkansas Tech, 1; UC-San Diego, 1; CSU-San Bernardino, 1; Lincoln Memorial, 1; Midwestern State, 1; Queens University of Charlotte, 1; West Texas A&M, 1 | |||