Sports

Home sweet home for Cavs

• Darton’s only home golf meet, the Darton College Spring Invitational at Stonebridge, features four teams and begins today.

Scott Chancey

ALBANY — The three-time defending NJCAA Division II champion Darton College golf team enters the Region XVII tournament May 5-6 in Helen.

Before then, coach Dale Dover’s Cavaliers want to maintain some sort of rhythm after winning at Meadow Links earlier this month. It was only their second victory of the spring and first first since the spring opener in Brevard,Fla.

That’s why Darton’s only home meet of the spring —the Darton College Spring Invitational at Stonebridge Golf & Country Club — is so important. It’s the final meet before Helen, and Dover thinks his players — now ranked second in the country behind Tyler (Texas) — are starting to hit their stride.

“I think we’re playing a little better, I really do,” said Dover, who coached the team to its three championships. “They’ve been jelling a little bit. They played good in the wind this past Monday at Grand Island and that’s a tough course in the wind.”

The two-day event, beginning at noon Saturday and 8 a.m. Sunday, also involves teams from Georgia Southwestern, Abraham Baldwin, Georgia Military and individual players from Darton and GSW.

Considering that ABAC and Georgia Military are from Darton’s region, the Cavaliers feel it can benefit from playing.

“It will be a good tuneup,” said sophomore Matt Smith, who has scholarship offers from schools such as Oglethorpe. “We had kind of struggled at the early part of the semester, but we’re now playing better as a whole and that should serve us well.”

Coleman Calhoun, who was a First-Team All-American last season, could not agree more.

“It’s another chance for us to play good for the tournament,” said Calhoun, who earned medalist honors at Meadow Links. “It’s another chance for us to get together, get to know each other and hopefully play better. We’re making progress and the scores are going down. Every tournament we play, we should get better, and that’s what I think we’re doing.”

Being new to the team, Jin Chung — one of the team’s better freshman golfers — just hopes the Cavs continue to build momentum. After regional, nationals are held May 20-23 in Phoenix.

“We just need to put everything together,” he said.

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