July 11, 2007
NGCA All-American Scholar Teams
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Five members of the Santa Clara women's golf team were honored by the National Golf Coaches Association as 2006-07 Division I All-American Scholars this week, giving the Broncos a total of nine student-athletes selected for this honor over the past two years. Bronco golfers Hilaire Fouts, Jamie Nonaka, Jennifer Sun, Megan Stoddart, and Erin Sullivan were among a total of 368 student-athletes selected for the All-American Scholar Teams for Division I, II, and III.
The criteria for selection to the NGCA All-Anerican Scholar Team are some of the most stringent of all college athletics. All eligible nominees must possess a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 and must have competed in at least 50% of the school's regularly-scheduled competitive rounds during the year.
"At the beginning of the year these players expressed to me that one of their goals was to achieve All-Scholar status and they worked extremely hard to make it a reality," said Santa Clara head coach Polly Schulze. "This accomplishment, along with achieving the top team GPA among all the teams at Santa Clara, caps off a great academic year for us."
As a unit, the Santa Clara women's golf team posted the highest cumulative GPA of all athletic teams in the department. Schulze's golfers turned in a sparkling grade-point average of 3.47 by the end of the 2006-07 academic year.
Fouts was one of three Broncos to earn All-WCC honorable mention honors on the course in 2006-07 after finishing 13th at the WCC Championships in April. The junior from Davis finished the year with an average round score of 81.36, and in the classroom carries a cumulative grade-point average of 3.53 while majoring in communication.
Nonaka, another All-WCC honorable mention performer this season, turned in a strong freshman campaign which saw her finish tied for 10th at the WCC Championships as well as capturing the individual win at the Santa Clara Triangular competition against San Francisco and .... In the classroom, Nonaka carries a 3.59 GPA in the school of Arts & Sciences.
Sun, a junior from Scottsdale, Ariz., boasts a 3.57 GPA while majoring in communication. On the links, she participated in six competitions for the Broncos, averaging 82.5 strokes per round and turning in a season-best finish of 18th place at the Lady Braveheart Challenge. Sun was also the recipient of the Bronco Spirit Award at the team's annual postseason banquet.
A transfer from the University of Hawaii two years ago, Stoddart began her Santa Clara career with a bang as she captured the Bronco Fall Invitational individual title in Boise, Idaho in September 2005. In 2006-07, the senior from Sacramento averaged 82.5 strokes per round over six tournaments, and in the classroom achieved a 3.62 GPA as an accounting major.
Sullivan, a freshman from Burr Ridge, Ill., participated in four tournaments for the Broncos in her rookie season, posting a per-round average of 82.8 strokes. She was also one of Santa Clara's participants in the WCC Championship, where she finished 22nd. Academically, Sullivan turned in a 3.56 GPA in the Leavey School of Business.
