GAM

CORAL SPRINGS, Florida (July 24, 2014) — The University of Detroit Mercy women’s golf team took home a lot of hardware for its play on the links, but the Horizon League Champion Titans were also winners in the classroom as UDM had the third highest cumulative grade point average in the nation this past season.
 
On Thursday, the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) announced its All-Scholar Team GPA Award and the top 25 team GPA’s in the country with Detroit posting a 3.838 GPA, just behind UTEP’s 3.840 and New Mexico’s 3.839.
 
“It is a well-deserved honor for the team,” said head coach Terri Anthony-Ryan. “They had the pressure on them all year long to repeat as champions and they did, all while taking care of business in the classroom as true student athletes. From the strength room, to the classroom and out on the course, they were champions and that is why we had the success we have had because of their work ethic and their pursuit to be the best. “
 
All eight of the Titans on this year’s roster had GPA’s over a 3.4 with seven of the student athletes over a 3.5 and two perfect 4.0’s.
 
It is the second-straight season that Detroit has earned the WGCA All-Scholar Team GPA accolade as it ranked 20th last year with a 3.617.
 
“I couldn’t be more proud of the women’s golf team and everything they have accomplished, on and off the course,” said Amy Gasahl ’11 (MBA), Director of Athletic Academics, Student Athlete Welfare & Eligibility. “When you consider what they did in winning the Horizon League Championship is amazing and then to combine that with the extraordinary work in the classroom from all eight of the golfers is what UDM athletics is all about.”
 
Detroit was one of two schools from the Horizon League in the top 25 with Youngstown State at 22nd and also one of two schools from the state of Michigan as Eastern Michigan was 11th.
 
The team award exemplifies the hard work Detroit has instilled in its program as the Titans won the HL for the second-straight season and made its third NCAA Regional Championship appearance in the last five years. Earlier this season, the squad won the 2014 Team Excellence Award at the Annual Academic & Athletic Awards Dinner, which recognizes the varsity team with the highest overall grade point average for the past academic year.
 
The National Golf Coaches Association honors the women’s collegiate golf programs with the highest Team GPA with the NGCA All-Scholar Team GPA Award. This award is based on the average GPA for ALL of the members of the women’s team for a specific year. The All-Scholar Team GPA Award is distributed to the top 25 teams at all levels – Division I, II, III, NAIA and JUCO.
 
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.