Greensboro, NC (12/08/00) -- Guilford College's men's golf team is ranked first in the final fall edition of the Men's Division III MasterCard Collegiate Golf Rankings, the College Golf Foundation (CGF) announced Friday. A panel of men's and women's collegiate coaches, in cooperation with the Golf Coaches Association of American (GCAA) and the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA), made the selections.

Guilford started the year ranked ninth in the preseason edition of the poll, but assumed the top spot thanks to three fall victories, including one at the prestigious Gordin Collegiate Classic. One of the strongest regular-season Division III tournaments, the Gordin featured 12 of the country's best teams. Guilford defeated many top programs, including second-ranked Methodist, third-ranked St. John's (MN) and number-five Greensboro, the defending Division III national champion. The Quakers also won the 21-team Williams (MA) Fall Invitational and a six-team Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) match in Harrisonburg, VA.

Junior Savio Nazareth (Orlando, FL/Phillips) leads the Quakers with a 72.10 scoring average through 10 fall rounds. He won medalist honors at the Williams Fall Invitational and at the September 6 ODAC match in Virginia. The two-time junior college All-American also had a pair of fourth-place finishes and a sixth-place effort this fall. Junior Andrew Biggadike (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood), a 2000 third-team All-American, ranks second on the team in scoring (74.17) and has four top-10 finishes in six events.

Coach Jack Jensen's Quakers begin their spring season February 23 with an ODAC match at the River Ridge Country Club in Raleigh, NC. A solid spring campaign should give Guilford its ninth NCAA National Tournament berth and its 20th national playoff appearance in Jensen's 25 years. Guilford won the NAIA National Championship in 1989.

2. Methodist College

3. St. John's College

4. Gustavus Adolphus College

5. Greensboro College

6. Skidmore College

7. Otterbein College

8. Nebraska Wesleyan University

9. Allegheny College