GREENEVILLE, Tenn. — The Tusculum University women’s golf team will compete at the 2025 South Atlantic Conference Championship this Sunday through Tuesday (Apr. 6-8) at The Preserve at Verdae in Greenville, South Carolina.
This year’s tournament field features five teams listed in the NCAA Division II top-50 including: top-ranked Anderson, No. 3 Wingate, No. 26 Lincoln Memorial, No. 31 Carson-Newman and No. 36 Limestone.
The winner of the SAC Championship will earn an automatic berth to next month’s NCAA II South Regional in Gainesville, Georgia (May 5-7).
The three-day, 54-hole championship will be contested on the par-72, 6,180-yard layout with 18-hole rounds played on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. will have a new feature at this year’s event. Team’s will be allowed to bring a sixth player to the tournament and potentially substitute for an injured or under-performing player.
The Pioneers, who are led by third-year head coach Hunter Chandley, have recorded four top-5 finishes this season including a runner-up performance at last month’s Agnes McAmis Memorial Tournament. Tusculum is currently ranked 30th in the NCAA II South Region.
Junior Reagan Padilla (Gallatin, Tenn.) leads the team with her 75.61 scoring average which is the second-lowest in program history. She has finished in the top-20 in all seven events this year and has posted a top-20 performance in 18 consecutive outings dating back to the 2023 SAC Championship where she finished 16th in her rookie season.
Padilla has recorded five finishes in the top-10 this year including a runner-up showing at the Emmanuel Spring Invitational. She has shot in the 70’s in 16 of her 18 competitive rounds this year including a career-low 71 at the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate in February.
Padilla tied for third place honors at last year’s SAC Championship to earn All-Tournament first team honors.
She enters this week’s competition with a 76.53 career scoring average which is the second-lowest by a Pioneer. Her 10 top-five finishes are tied for fourth-most in school history, while her 16 top-10 finishes are sixth-best in the TU record book.
Greeneville freshman Maylei Hildenbrand is having a dynamite rookie campaign. She is second on the team with her 77.28 stroke average which is 12th-best in program history and the second-lowest by a TU freshman. She has played in all seven tournaments this year, which includes six finishes in the top-20 and a pair of top-10 showings. She finished 10th at the Anderson-Erskine Fall Kickoff in her collegiate debut and later placed ninth at the St. Simons Intercollegiate. She has shot in the 70’s on 13 occasions this year including a season-low 72 at The Battle at Hilton Head in February.
Sophomore Delfin Filiz (Belfast, Northern Ireland) has an 82.28 scoring average in her first year with the Pioneers since transferring from Colorado State-Pueblo where she was member of the Rocky Mountain Conference Championship team. She is coming off her best performance of the season as she tied for eighth at the McAmis Memorial. She has shot in the 70’s in four of her last six rounds including a 73 in the opening round of the McAmis. Filiz has posted back-to-back top-10 finishes including the McAmis and at the Emmanuel Spring Invitational.
Junior Annabelle Mozingo (Jacksonville, Florida) has qualified for all seven events this year and has an 83.28 scoring average. The UNC Asheville transfer has finished in the top-30 in two events this year including 21st at the McAmis Memorial and 28th at the King Invitational. She carded a season-low 75 in the final round of The Battle at Hilton Head.
Graduate student Emilie Bergh-Jacobsen (Baerum, Akershus, Norway) will be competing in her third SAC Championship next week. She has carded an 84.87 scoring average this year in her six tournaments. She has finished in the top-30 twice including 27th place performances at the King Invitational and the McAmis Memorial. She boasts an 83.88 career stroke average which is listed 18th-best by a Pioneer.
The Pioneers won the first two SAC Women’s Golf Championships held by the league in 2000 and 2001. Tusculum finished runner-up at the 2013 and 2017 league championships.
