The University of Mississippi Athletics
Rebels Set For SEC Championship
4/18/2012 | Women's Golf
April 18, 2012
OXFORD, Miss. - On the heels of back-to-back top-five finishes, the No. 39 Ole Miss women's golf team will travel to Fayetteville, Ark., to compete in the 2012 SEC Championship hosted by the University of Arkansas April 20-22.
The SEC Championship will feature eight of the nation's top-25 teams in Alabama (No. 2), defending SEC Champion Auburn (No. 4), LSU (No. 7), Georgia (No. 9), Vanderbilt (No. 10), Tennessee (No. 13), Florida (No. 15), and South Carolina (No. 24). Two other teams-Arkansas (No. 36) and Ole Miss-rank inside the top 40.
Auburn captured last year's SEC Championship, besting in-state rival Alabama by 11 strokes.
Also on display at the SEC Championship will be some of the collegiate game's top-ranked individuals, led by Brooke Pancake of Alabama (No. 2 individual in the NCAA) and Emily Tubert of Arkansas (No. 3). Eight of the top-20 players in the nation are from SEC schools.
The Rebels are coming off of their two best finishes of the 2011-12 campaign, a fourth-place showing at the Anuenue Spring Break Classic in Maui and a third-place finish at their home BancorpSouth Rebel Intercollegiate.
Senior Natalie Gleadall leads the Rebels with a 74.83 stroke average. Gleadall earned her second top-five finish of the year last week at the Rebel Intercollegiate, taking third place with a 214. The Stratford, Ontario-native has now picked up five top-five finishes in her career.
Haley Millsap has put together back-to-back top-10 efforts in the last two tournaments. The senior followed a career-best fourth-place finish in Maui with an eighth-place showing at the Rebel Intecollegiate.
Junior Haley Sanders carries a 75.13 average into the SEC Championship. Sanders has three top-20 finishes this season.
Ericka Schneider follows with a 76.05 average and is coming off back-to-back top 20's.
Freshman Taelor Rubin will round out the lineup for Ole Miss.
"Natalie [Gleadall], Haley Millsap, Haley Sanders, Ericka [Schneider] and Taelor [Rubin], since the Rebel Intercollegiate, have continued to get better one percent every day in the areas that they personally need to improve in to help the team," said Ole Miss head coach Michele Drinkard. "Knowing The Blessings is a placement course and a hilly course, we have prepared by playing similar courses in the Country Club of Oxford and The Dogwoods Golf Course in Grenada. Come Friday it will be time to put our plan into action. I like the energy this team has to play."
Fans can follow along with live scoring at www.OleMissSports.com. Also follow the Rebels on twitter at @OleMissWGolf and on facebook at http://www.facebook.com/OleMissWGolf.
