Amat, Boneta and Harrington Earn Mountain West Honors
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. –– Three members of the New Mexico men’s golf team were honored as the Mountain West announced the 2023-24 conference honors and awards. Senior Bastien Amat was named Mountain West Golfer of the Year, Jake Harrington was named Mountain West Coach of the Year and graduate Albert Boneta joined Amat on the All-Mountain West Team.
Amat becomes the sixth Lobo to be named Mountain West Men’s Golfer of the Year, joining Michael Letzig (2002-03), Charlie Beljan (2006-07), Steve Saunders (2008-09), James Erkenbeck (2012-13) and Gavin Green (2013-14 & 2014-15). He is the fourth UNM golfer to be named All-Mountain West in three straight years, joining Victor Perez (2012-14), Gavin Green (2013-15) and Sam Choi (2019-22). The highest ranked Mountain West golfer in the national rankings at No. 22, he has two victories this season among five top-five finishes. His stroke average of 70.25 is on pace to be the second-lowest single-season average in New Mexico history.
Boneta is an All-Mountain West selection for the third time, having also earned the honor in 2021 and 2023, becoming the seventh three-time honoree in program history. He has posted a 70.78 stroke average this season while leading the team in rounds of par or better, with 29 of his 36 rounds this season coming at par or under par. He has four top-five finishes this season, including last week at the Mountain West Championship when he was a team-best T-5th.
Harrington earns Mountain West Coach of the Year in his first season in Albuquerque. It is the seventh honor for a Lobo coach, as Glen Millican won Mountain West Coach of the Year five times and J.T. Higgins earned the honor once. Harrington has led the Lobos to a No. 23 national ranking and victories at the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate and the National Invitational Tournament. New Mexico has seven top-three finishes in 12 events this season, including a runner-up finish at the Mountain West Championship last week in a playoff. For the season, UNM is on pace to set a single season stroke average record with a mark of 281.50 so far this year.
The Lobos will travel to Indiana next week to compete in the NCAA West Lafayette Regional at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex on the campus of Purdue University. The top five finishers will advance from the regional to the NCAA Championships, held later this month in Carlsbad, Calif.