|
Women's Golf Postseason Honors Announced
April 27, 2009
PARK RIDGE, Ill. – Fresh off of winning its back-to-back Big Ten Championships, Purdue racked up two of the three end of the year conference accolades. Two-time Big Ten individual champion Maria Hernandez was named the conference Player of the Year, while her mentor Devon Brouse was recognized by his peers as Coach of the Year. Ohio State’s Vicky Villanueva was honored as the Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year. In addition, 11 honorees were also chosen for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Hernandez becomes just the second player in Big Ten history to win the award three-straight years, giving the Boilermakers five all-time, including four consecutive. The senior brought home her second individual conference title on Sunday as she shared the laurel with teammate Maude-Aimee LeBlanc, leading her squad to a 37-stroke victory. Hernandez currently ranks seventh in the country with a Golfweek/Sagarin rating of 71.32. Hernandez also received her third straight Mary Fossum award which was established in 2007 and given annually to the player with the lowest stroke average to par. The Pamplona, Spain, native, finishes her Big Ten career with the most conference Player of the Week accolades, totaling seven. For Brouse, the Purdue general earns his fourth Coach of the Year accolade as he won the award in 2008, 2006 and 2000. Brouse is the only Boilermaker coach to earn the honor since the award was first given in 1984 and is just the third coach in conference history to earn the laurel more than three times. This year’s conference title was the school’s fourth, all of which were under Brouse, as the Boilermakers placed four student-athletes among the top-six finishers.
The All-Big Ten first team is highlighted by Purdue’s Hernandez, LeBlanc and Junthima Gulyanamitta. Hernandez earns her fourth-straight All-Big Ten honor becoming the second Boilermaker in history to do so (Kari Damron, 2000-03), while LeBlanc and Gulyanamitta capture their second-straight award. The trio is joined by sophomore teammate Thea Hoffmeister. The Germany native, tied-for-fourth at this year’s event. Completing the first team are Michigan State’s Laura Kueny and Ohio State’s In Hong Lim. All-Conference second team members include Indiana’s Anita Gahir and Laura Nochta, Michigan’s Ashley Bauer, Michigan’s State’s Aimee Neff and Lindsey Solberg and Ohio State’s Villanueva. The conference office also announced today honorees from each of the conference’s 11 women’s golf squads for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for women’s golf are Illinois’ Maureen Liddy, Indiana’s Nochta, Iowa’s Laura Cilek, Michigan’s Bauer, Michigan State’s Neff, Minnesota’s Paige Bromen, Northwestern’s Kylie Fuller, Ohio State’s Lim, Penn State’s Brianna Malcolmson, Purdue’s Hoffmeister and Wisconsin’s Jeana Dahl. These 11 student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year. 2009 WOMEN’S GOLF POSTSEASON HONORS
2009 WOMEN’S GOLF SPORTSMANSHIP HONOREES Maureen Liddy, Illinois |
|
