KEVIN JENISON
GoSycamores.com
TERRE HAUTE, IND. ? The Indiana State women's golf team received another honor from the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) today as they were named among the top 25 teams in the nation according to team grade point average (GPA). The Sycamores were ranked fourth overall and the top NCAA Division I school with a team GPA of 3.692.
Indianapolis University (3.752) and Drury University (3.716), both NCAA Division II schools and members of the Great Lakes Valley Conference, were the top two schools with Gustavus Adolphus College (3.714), an NCAA Division III school and member of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, third.
"Today is another milestone and wonderful accomplishment for our golf program, being first in Division I Women's Golf Team GPA and fourth in all divisions,” Mike Whitson, Indiana State women's golf coach, said. “Our team takes a lot of pride in the work they do in the classroom and I am happy for them and proud of them. I was just thrilled when I saw the results this morning."
Two other members of the Missouri Valley Conference were also among the top 25 schools named by the NGCA including Missouri State University in eighth (3.636) and Wichita State University who tied for 13th (3.589).
Breanne Smith and Mackenzie Mack, who completed their ISU careers this past spring, and Emily Dixon, a freshman on last year's squad, were each honored by the NGCA earlier this month by being named to the 2010 NGCA All-American Scholar team.
Mack was honored for the fourth straight year. The Sycamore graduate was named an Arthur Ashe Scholar earlier this year while also being a member of the Indiana State All-Academic team and the Sycamore Scholar-Athlete team. She received the 2010 MVC Good Neighbor Award for the spring semester and was a member of the MVC Scholar-Athlete team for women's golf.
Smith was honored for the third straight year. The record setting member of the Sycamore team was also named the recipient of the Missouri Valley Conference Good Neighbor Award in 2009, and has been a member of the Missouri Valley Conference women's golf scholar-athlete team and the Sycamore scholar-athlete team.
Dixon was a consistent player for the Sycamores as a freshman and recorded her first hole-in-one as a member of the Indiana State team in the second round of the 2010 Missouri Valley Conference championships.
A total of 494 women's collegiate golfers recognized with this prestigious honor. The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent in all of 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.
The National Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women's collegiate golf coaches. Today, the NGCA represents nearly 500 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.
