By Richard Stevens – Senior Writer/GoLobos.com
To put it into golf terms, Lobo Coach Jill Trujillo’s University of New Mexico’s women’s golf team missed an academic national title by a putt that hung on the edge of the cup, but refused to fall.
The Lobos were national runners-up in the race for the 2013-2014 WGCA All-Scholar Team GPA Award when UNM’s team GPA of 3.839 was just nipped by Texas El Paso’s 3.840. The University of Detroit Mercy also was a tap-in off the pace with a 3.838 GPA followed by Florida Gulf Coast, a chip shot away at 3.822.
The University of New Mexico is recognized as one of the Top 200 academic colleges by the U.S. News and World Report rankings. UTEP did not make the top 200. Forbes’ list of top colleges in America has UNM 116 spots higher than UTEP.
The WGCA award recognizes women’s collegiate golf program with the highest team GPA taking into account all student-athletes on the team for the 2013-14 season. The WGCA also announced a Top 25. The only other Mountain West team to crack that Top 25 list was Boise State at No. 17 with a 3.665 GPA.
“These young ladies obviously had a tremendous year both on the course and in the classroom,” said Trujillo. “I am so proud of them and so proud of how they represent our program, our university and our state.”
This award is just another academic highlight for Trujillo’s 2014 Mountain West champions. Her Lobos had the highest GPA of any UNM athletic program for the 2013-14 school year and hit a 3.88 GPA for the spring semester – a GPA that is even more impressive when you consider that classwork came during the heart of UNM’s golf season with all tournament on the road.
Trujillo’s Lobos also:
- Had five players earn 2013-14 Mountain West Scholar-Athlete awards (3.5 or higher): seniors Sammi Stevens, Manon De Roey and Sofia Hoglund and freshmen Katerina Jaeger and Kalyn Thayer.
- Placed Stevens, Jaeger, De Roey and Hoglund on the 2014 Academic All-Mountain West Team (3.0 or higher), and they were joined on that academic squad by freshmen Eva Saulnier and Manon Molle.
- The Lobos had five golfers — Stevens, De Roey, Hoglund, Jaeger and Saulnier – named as Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) All-American Scholars (3.5 or higher) at the Division I level.
The University of New Mexico topped the Mountain West in the number of student-athletes named to the Academic All-MW Spring Team with 124 and also in the Lobos named as MW Scholars for the 2013-14 school term at 117. UNM set a program record with a 3.25 cumulative GPA for the 2013-14 season.
The grades on the Lobo women’s golf team among the players awarded academic honors ranged from 3.52 to 4.24. Thayer topped the team with a 4.24 GPA followed by Jaeger at 4.18.
“The student-athletes on our team are high achievers, and they carry that work ethic onto the course and into the classroom,” said Trujillo.
The WGCA Top 25:
1st — University of Texas-El Paso 3.840
2nd — University of New Mexico 3.839
3rd — University of Detroit Mercy 3.838
4th — Florida Gulf Coast University 3.822
5th — Creighton University 3.787
6th — Weber State University 3.755
7th — University of Arkansas-Little Rock 3.740
8th — University of San Francisco 3.732
9th — Xavier University 3.729
10th — University of Tennessee Chattanooga 3.724
11th — Eastern Michigan University 3.720
12th — Concordia University – St. Paul 3.714
T-13th — Southern Illinois University Edwardsville 3.689
T-13th — Upper Iowa University 3.689
15th — Wittenberg University 3.682
16th — Texas A&M University-Commerce 3.672
17th — Boise State University 3.665
18th — University of Arkansas 3.657
19th — Vanderbilt University 3.655
T-20th — Central Connecticut State University 3.645
T-20th — Georgia State University 3.645
22nd — Youngstown State University 3.643
23rd — University of Louisville 3.640
24th — Bowling Green State University 3.639
25th — East Carolina University 3.635
About the Women’s Golf Coaches Association: The Women’s Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women’s collegiate golf coaches. The WGCA was formed to encourage the playing of college golf for women in correlation with a general objective of education and in accordance with the highest tradition of intercollegiate competition. Today, the WGCA represents over 500 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student-athletes they represent.