Do the the voters in the Golf World/WGCA women's Division I coaches poll have a crystal ball?
While ballots had to be turned in last Friday for the first spring poll of the 2012-13 season, five days before the end of the rain-shortened Allstate Sugar Bowl Intercollegiate would conclude, the 80 percent of the coaches seemed to know that USC was going to be victorious at English Turn G&CC, winning a playoff over crosstown rival UCLA.
Twenty of the 25 voters selected the Trojans No. 1, allowing the Pac-12 power to remain atop the Golf World poll even before recording arguably their most impressive victory of the season.
A few notes about the poll:
* North Carolina's No. 4 ranking equals the highest the Lady Tar Heels have ever been since Golf World resumed the poll in 2001-02. (The previous time was October 2011).
* Arkansas, similarly, return to its best place ever in the poll, the No. 8 ranking, which it previously held in May 2008.
Claiming 16 of the 17 available first-place votes Nova Southeastern remains No. 1 in the first Division II women's coaches poll of the spring. The Sharks won three of four fall starts and claimed the team title at the Lady Moc Classic yesterday to bolster their reputation thus far in the 2012-13 season.Rising up a notch to the No. 2 spot is Rollins, trading spots with No. 3 St. Edward's. Lynn claimed the No. 4 spot (while claiming the lone remaining first-place vote), with Tarleton State rounding out the top five.
Methodist received all 15 first-place votes to keep its firm grasp on the No. 1 ranking in the first Division III women's coaches poll of the spring. The Lady Monarchs finished in a tie for second at the BSC Ann Rhodes Invitational to start the spring, losing only to Division I Indiana State. In the fall they claimed three team titles.Washington U. of St. Louis remained in the No. 2 spot while the rest of the top five (No. 3 Centre, No. 4 Mary Hardin-Baylor and No. 5 George Fox—all held firm from the final fall poll.
