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San Antonio –
Golf Digest, one of the
sport’s leading publications, has recognized the Trinity University
Tigers men’s and women’s golf teams in the top-five nationally in its
collegiate “academic first” rankings.
The Tiger men
(84.597 points) are ranked No. 2 in the nation, right behind Princeton
(85.290), and the women’s squad is fifth (78.092), a close distance from
Harvard (80.476). In the men’s rankings, Trinity was immediately ahead
of Yale, Linfield (Ore.) and Pennsylvania. The Tiger women led
Pennsylvania and Amherst. According to
Golf Digest’s Division III
“golf first” rankings, Trinity’s men are ninth with 65.445 points.
Golf Digest used a number of
factors in the rankings, including
an overall score from
U.S. News & World Report’s America’s Best Colleges. U.S. News & World
Report ranked Trinity No.1 for the 14th consecutive year
among colleges and universities offering a full range of undergraduate
and select master’s level programs in the Western part of the United
States. Also included in the golf magazine’s rankings were team adjusted
scoring average, player improvement, coaching and facilities and the
area climate.
Carla
Spenkoch is in her ninth season as Trinity’s men’s golf coach. She took
the 2003 Trinity team to its first NCAA Division III Championship
tournament since 1975. Coach Spenkoch, who has also coached two
All-Americans, led the Tigers to the 2005 Southern Collegiate Athletic
Conference Championship. She is a teaching professional at the Quarry
Golf Club in San Antonio and was voted the 1997 Favorite Golf Teacher by
Golf for Women. A team
captain for the University of Texas Lady Longhorns in 1975 and 1976,
Coach Spenkoch is a Class A member of the LPGA Teaching and Club
Division.
Therese Bass has coached the Tiger women
to SCAC runner-up finishes for two of the past three years.
Two Tiger women were named to the National
Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team. Juniors Allison Bird
of Farmington, N.M., and Michelle McCullough of Scottsdale, Ariz.,
received the recognition for high academic and athletic standards.
McCullough is the daughter of PGA Champions Tour member Mike McCullough. |