July 20, 2011
NORMAN, Okla. – New Mexico seniors Samuel Chavez (Hillsborough, Calif.) and Travis Ross (Crookston, Minn.) were among the 138 Division I Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars named today by the Golf Coaches Association of America. This is the second-straight year Ross has received this honor and the first for Chavez.
The two Lobo recipients were joined by six other Mountain West golfers:
Zahkai Brown, Colorado State
Eli Cole, TCU
Johan de Beer, TCU
Tom Hoge, TCU
Scott Roudebush, TCU
Derek Adams, Utah
The GCAA also named 49 honorees in Division II and three in NAIA. Additionally, 20 honorees were added to the previously released Division III Cleveland Golf/Srixon All-America Scholars.
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, as well as 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.
Chavez, a sociology major, was also named a 2010-11 Mountain West Scholar Athlete and was an Academic All-MW recipient for spring 2011.
Chavez closed out his collegiate career tied for 29th at the Mountain West Tournament Championship in May, finishing the tourney with a 7-over 73-75-72=220.
Ross graduated in May with a degree in finance, notching an eye-popping 4.11 cumulative GPA. In June he was named a Capital One/CoSIDA First Team Academic All-American. He’s a four-time Dean’s list recipient and was also named a Mountain West Scholar Athlete and Academic All-MW in 2009-10 and 2010-11.
Ross was also named to the 2011 All-Mountain Conference team and came painstakingly close to winning the Mountain West Conference Tournament Championship in May, losing on the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to UNLV’s Derek Ernst after three days of play.
He finished tied for second with a 6-under-par 71-67-69=207. Ross finished in the top 25 in 12 of the Lobos’ 14 varsity events this season, with five top-10 finishes to his credit. Ross’ second-place finish at the Mark Simpson Invitational spearheaded New Mexico’s team title back in September.