LEXINGTON - The Washington and Lee golf team has been ranked 19th in the final Golf Coaches Association of America NCAA Division III poll of the fall. The Generals resume their 1997-98 schedule on February 24 at the Guilford Invitational.

The ranking is the first for the Generals since former coach Buck Leslie's 1992 squad was ranked as high as 13th. Despite the loss of two-time Old Dominion Athletic Conference Player of the Year Tommy Dudley, the Generals had an outstanding fall season under coach Kevin Moore. In four tournaments W&L had a team stroke average of 309.9, far better than its 315.1 stroke average last year when the Generals just missed qualifying for the NCAA Division III Championships.

Junior Rick Burrice and sophomore T.J. Wagner lead the team with 76.9 stroke averages and junior Geoff Cooper is close behind with a 77.4 stroke average.

The complete poll follows:
1.  Methodist
2.  Greensboro
3.  Skidmore
4.  Otterbein
5.  Gustavus Adolphus
6.  Guilford
7.  Allegheny
8.  UC-San Diego
9.  Nebraska Wesleyan
10. SUNY-Binghamton
11. Wisconsin-Eau Claire
12. Olivet
13. Oglethorpe
14. Luther
15. Franklin
16. Central
17. Western Maryland
18. Williams
19. Washington and Lee
20. Salem State
21. DePauw
22. John Carroll
23. Augsburg
24. Emory
25. Cal Lutheran