Signs reflect another Pacers championship

AIKEN - The groundwork was laid in 2004. All USC Aiken officials had to do this year was make a phone call.

After the Pacers' golf team captured their second consecutive NCAA Division II Championship, the school celebrated the same way it did a year ago. It purchased seven interstate road signs honoring the achievement.

The 2004 signs read: "Home of USC Aiken 2004 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Champions." The signs are slightly changed this time with a few new words added.

"I hope people will slow down long enough to see now there's an '05 added to the '04," USC Aiken golf coach Michael Carlisle said. "We're very proud of the university to get this kind of exposure."

The school also received national attention this week in the September issue of Golf Digest. In an 18-page college golf section, the magazine lists USC Aiken as the 21st best golf college in the nation in the "golf first" category for programs designed for future golf pros. The Pacers are ranked behind schools like Georgia Tech (No. 1), Clemson (No. 5) and Georgia (No. 7) and ahead of Auburn (No. 22), Stanford (No. 23) and Augusta State (No. 25).

"If you look at what our teams have accomplished the past 12 to 15 years ... we deserve to be there," athletic director Randy Warrick said.

"I was real pleased," Carlisle said. "I think we could be a little bit higher. We're as good as some of those other teams if not better than some of them."

USC Aiken has one advantage over some of the other colleges with the road signs. Sports information director Brad Fields said the school purchased the signs for about $1,100, about half the cost of the 2004 signs. The school saved money because the signposts already are in the ground.

Five signs are placed entering the state: Off Interstate 26 south from North Carolina; Interstate 77 south from North Carolina; I-95 north from Georgia; I-95 south from North Carolina; and I-20 east from Georgia. Two signs are also located off I-20's exit 22, the main exit to the campus.

"I have re-entered the state from almost every direction we have the signs," USC Aiken chancellor Thomas L. Hallman said. "It's a pleasure every time I see them."

In May, the Pacers defeated Armstrong Atlantic State by five shots in the D-II championships at The Club at Savannah Harbor in Savannah, Ga.

Reach Chris Gay at (706) 823-3645 or chris.gay@augustachronicle.com.