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7/11/2009 - MEN'S GOLF
A-Sun Golfers Earn Academic All-America Honors
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NGCA HonoreesMACON, Ga. - Eight Atlantic Sun golfers, five men and three women earned Academic All-America honors in recent announcements from Cleveland Golf/Srixon and the National Golf Coaches Association.
Two Belmont golfers, Danny Amundson and Scott O'Brien, joined ETSU's Seamus Power, Mercer's Bill Jones III and USC Upstate's Josh Gallman among the 108 Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-American Scholars, the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced on Thursday.
For Danny Amundson, this is the second straight season he has been named a GCAA All-American Scholar. He also was honored as a member of the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District IV Spring at Large Team earlier this year. Scott O'Brien earns All-American Scholar status for the first time. During the 2008-09 season, the Brookings, South Dakota native was second on the team in scoring with a 73.8 average.
Jones III Jones made Mercer golf history this season when he became the first golfer to qualify for the NCAA regionals, where he fired a solid one-over 214 (71-73-70). The Conyers, Ga. native earned a spot on the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District Second Team. Along with his accomplishments on the golf course, Jones rang up an impressive 3.82 GPA in his business major to land a spot on the at-large team.
Power, the conference's Player of the Year, shared Medalist honors as the Larry Nelson Collegiate Invitational and placed second at the Kauai Collegiate Cup. He and Jacksonville State's Matias Anselmo are the only two men in Atlantic Sun history to with both the Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year in a career.
Gallman is a rising senior at Upstate and has been a mainstay at the top of the Spartans lineup throughout his career. He broke onto the collegiate scene at the 2007 NCAA Division II National Championships, firing a 5-under-par 67 in the final round to help lead Upstate to a second-place finish by just one stroke. An honorable mention All-American as a freshman, he led the Spartans into Division I competition as a sophomore in 2007-08, finishing with four individual tournament titles while earning A-Sun All-Conference honors. He again claimed All-Atlantic Sun honors this year after ranking in the top four in stroke average in the league throughout the year.
To be eligible for Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholar status an individual must be a junior or senior academically, compete in at least two full years at the collegiate level, participate in 70-percent of his team’s competitive rounds or compete in the NCAA Championships, have a stroke-average under 76.0 in Division I, 78.0 in Division II and NAIA and 79.0 in Division III, and maintain a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.2 in Division I, II and III and 3.5 in NAIA. A recipient must also be of high moral character and be in good standing at his college or university.
Three Belmont women's golfers, Lauren Oeser, Laura Dyson, and Kelly Maguigan have been named to the 2008-2009 National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-American Scholar Team as announced Wednesday. This marks the fourth straight season that Belmont has had a women's golfer named to this prestigious team.
For Lauren Oeser, this is third consecutive year she has been named to the All-American Scholar Team. During the 2008-2009 season, the native of Old Hickory, Tennessee carded a scoring average of 82.4, which ranked fourth on the team. She posted one top-20 finish as she placed in a tie for 16th at the Eat a Peach Collegiate last fall. Oeser graduated from Belmont in May with a degree in Biology.
Laura Dyson is named to the team for the second consecutive year. The rising junior played 20 rounds in nine events last season. The Fairview, Texas native and Business major posted a 2008-09 scoring average of 84.4 and her tie for 20th place finish in last April's Southern Miss Invitational was a career best.
Rising sophomore Kelly Maguigan played in all 11 tournaments as a freshman last season. The Pre-Pharmacy major from Franklin, Tennessee ranked second on the team in scoring average at 81.1 and posted two top-20 finishes, with her best finish being an 11th place showing at the Eat a Peach Collegiate last fall.
The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent of all college athletics. The minimum cumulative GPA is 3.50 and student-athletes must have competed in at least 50% (Division I) or 66% (Division II & III) of the college's regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the year.
