Mark Guhne	- Download MP3-

Mark Guhne drove home from the Southern Conference championship barefoot.

The only pair of shoes he took with him were in the trunk, soaking wet. He didn’t mind one bit because the SoCon championship trophy rode back in the back seat.

The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga men’s golf team won its second straight league championship Tuesday with an eight-shot victory over College of Charleston.

“They soaked me with a pretty good-sized cooler,” Guhne said via cell phone. “There was enough water to soak my back, the back of my pants and down in my shoes. I tried to run, but they still got me.”

The Mocs shot a 54-hole total of 1-over-par 865 at the Country Club of South Carolina in Florence. UTC junior Ben Rickett tied for second individually at 1 under.

“I picked a really good game plan and stuck with it the whole way,” said Rickett, the 36-hole leader. “One of our goals was to win conference, and now we’re on to the next stage, the regional.”

The Lady Mocs will not participate in an NCAA regional. The first UTC women’s golf season since 1984 ended Tuesday with a fifth-place finish at their SoCon championship in Charleston.

“We don’t need to be hanging our heads. We need to hold them high and be proud of what we’ve done,” said coach Colette Murray, whose team finished 42 shots behind champion Furman. “We got to experience conference play, and I have a feeling they will come back extremely hungry next year.

“They’ve really done a wonderful job for a first-year program.”

Just as his team won for a second straight year, Guhne repeated as SoCon coach of the year and Mocs junior Jonathan Hodge repeated as player of the year.

Hodge had UTC’s highest score for the tournament, tying for 14th. His 220 would have been at least third on any other SoCon team.

“Back-to-back sounds better than winning just once,” Hodge said. “Sometimes it went bad for us. We have played better before, but you can’t say it was a failure.”

The only thing that failed was Derek Rende and Fredrik Qvicker’s first attempt to douse Guhne. Rende, who shot a 218 and tied for seventh with Qvicker and J.T. Clendenin, said their coach escaped the first try.

“It wasn’t a very good plan, but we got him,” Rende said over the phone. “We did what we came here to do. We didn’t play great, but it was good enough to get the job done.”

Western Carolina’s Matt Cook was medalist for the second straight year. The eighth player to win consecutive SoCon titles in the last 72 years, he finished at 211.

The Mocs owned a 12-shot lead after nine holes Tuesday, but the conditions turned windy and rainy in a hurry, resulting in a handful of bogeys for them. But not enough to lose the lead.

“This is something that is very important to us, and we wanted to represent the school well,” Guhne said. “Winning the SoCon is the ultimate.”

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