Griz golfers earn all-conference honors
4/13/2010 12:00:00 AM | Golf
Montana sophomore Lauren Howell was named First-Team All-Conference by the Big Sky Monday. Junior Carissa Simmons was named to the Big Sky second team, giving Montana athletes two of ten all-conference slots for 2010.
Following regular season play, Howell topped the Montana roster in the Golfstat Division I collegiate golf standings with a national ranking of 413, while Simmons came in at 538. The virtual head-to-head forum serves at the basis for Big Sky all-conference honors. Awards based on direct-competition will take the form of the Big Sky All-Tournament Team, which will be decided solely on athletes??? performance at the conference championship, which is to be held April 19-21.??
By the hard numbers, Howell averaged 77.3 strokes per round in 2009-10 tournament play. The Grizzly also claimed three of the five lowest single-round scores turned in by a Montana athlete. These scores included a low round of 69, which ties for the second-best all-time mark for a Grizzly.??
Thus far, Howell has garnered four top-20 results in her first season with Montana, including a third place at the Wyoming invite and a fifth place finish at the Eastern Washington/Gonzaga invite.
The Washington State transfer dropped her single round average from 78.8, removed two strokes from her single-round best and improved from a collegiate-best round of 244 to 219 from her previous season with the Cougars.
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Following regular season competition, Howell and Simmons share the two-round school record of 142. Simmons achieved the mark at the 2008 Big Sky championship, while Howell tied the result in the April 5-6 Wyoming Cowgirl Classic, which served as a preview for next week???s Big Sky championship.
Simmons averaged 78.1 strokes per round for the season, a full two strokes lower than her previous career average. The Boise native earned two top-10 tournament results including a second at the Eastern Washington/Gonzaga Invitational and sixth at the Washington State Inland Cup.??
After the announcement, Howell said, ???This was pretty unexpected for me, so I am really surprised and excited.???
In regard to competing with the Montana team, the sophomore said, ???This season, I think that I have benefitted from the more relaxed atmosphere at UM. At WSU, there was too much pressure to perform at each tournament. At Montana, you understand that it is a team effort and you don???t have to be your best every single time. The style is just more fun for me.???
14th-year UM coach Joanne Steele said, ???This is a great honor for both athletes. It is an exceptional achievement because it is based on a season-long stroke average. To keep that at the all-conference level, one needs to be competitive all year long.?? For Lauren and Carissa, that meant dealing with a constant, mindful pressure from September through April.
???These awards speak to the abilities of both players in another way, because they are the only members that are not from schools that experience year-long playing conditions. Northern Arizona, Sacramento State and Portland do not deal with the Montana weather. Lauren and Carissa have maintained a competitive swing without so much as a winter driving range.
???Carissa earned recognition for great fall play, and has maintained and built through the spring and will be looking to finish as she has in her past collegiate seasons.
???Lauren finished our fall schedule with an average that would have put her on that second team. Her First team honor is impressive, because she had to make strides all spring to jump to the next level.???
This is the first All-conference honor for both Howell and Simmons, though Simmons was twice named to the Big Sky all-tournament team for her third and fifth place finishes at the Big Sky championship in 2008 and 2009 respectively.??
In Monday???s release, Big Sky favorite Northern Arizona took six honors, with Stephanie and Alexa Kim garnering two first-team positions. Stephanie Kim also earned both Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year awards, the first freshman to achieve such a double in Big Sky history.
Others named included: (First team) Jule Schulter, Sacramento State; Britney Yada, Portland State; (Second team) Megan Buck, Daikin Banta, Bethany Leclair, and Meghan Bremer, all from Northern Arizona.
Howell and Simmons prepare to weigh in at the 2010 Big Sky championship, which begins Monday at the Octillo resort in Chandler, Arizona.????
