EMCC Lions to tee off golf season Sunday at Mississippi Gulf Coast-hosted event at Diamondhead Pine
Riding back-to-back state runner-up finishes, the East Mississippi Community College men’s golf team will tee off the 2013 season by participating in the MACJC’s first spring tournament to be hosted by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. The two-day event begins Sunday at the Diamondhead Pine golf course.
SCOOBA – Riding back-to-back state runner-up finishes, the East Mississippi Community College men's golf team will tee off the 2013 season by participating in the MACJC's first spring tournament to be hosted by Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College. The two-day event begins Sunday at the Diamondhead Pine golf course.
Guided by eighth-year head coach Dale Peay, the 2013 EMCC Lions feature two returnees and four newcomers on their season-opening roster. Sophomore out-of-state performers Miles Respess (Paragould, Ark.) and Nick Davis (Springville, Ala.) are back after ranking second and fourth among the team's stroke average leaders a year ago at 77.2 and 78.0, respectively. Most recently, Davis claimed the coveted Henry W. "Buddy" Faulkner Excellence in Golf Award by compiling a 74.2 stroke average during EMCC's Fifth Annual World Class Fall Golf Tour held three months ago on Birmingham-area golf courses.
Expected to lead this year's quartet of Lion newcomers is sophomore transfer Caleb Westmoreland, who spent last season playing for Delta State University following a standout prep career at Heritage Academy in Columbus. He helped lead the Patriots to the 2011 Mississippi Association of Independent Schools (MAIS) AAA state championship. Fellow sophomore Matt Belk, a product of Shannon High School, has transferred to EMCC's Mayhew campus following a year at Itawamba Community College.
Rounding out EMCC's 2013 spring golf roster are incoming freshmen Chase Smith and John Pittman, out of Northeast Jones High School and Olive Branch High School, respectively.
The MACJC's season-opening golf tournament figures to be headlined by the host school Mississippi Gulf Coast, as the Bulldogs have claimed the past five NJCAA Region 23 men's golf championships. Along with MGCCC and EMCC, the spring's first golf event will also include Copiah-Lincoln, East Central, Hinds, Holmes, Itawamba, Jones County, Northeast Mississippi and Northwest Mississippi.
The remaining portion of the MACJC's regular-season golf schedule will feature upcoming tournaments hosted by: Hinds (March 2-3 at Eagle Ridge); Copiah-Lincoln (March 17-18 at Wolf Hollow); Northwest Mississippi (March 25-26 at North Creek/Wedgewood); and East Mississippi (April 7-8 at Mississippi State).