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Men's Golf Postseason Honors Announced
April 29, 2008
PARK RIDGE, Ill. - Two days after Michigan State repeated as Big Ten men's golf team champions, the 11 coaches selected 12 student-athletes for All-Conference honors, with two individuals and one coach earning special recognition. Indiana junior Jorge Campillo was named the conference's Player of the Year, while Spartan mentor Sam Puryear was recognized by his peers as Coach of the Year. Illinois' Scott Langley was honored by the coaches as Freshman of the Year. In addition, 11 honorees were also chosen for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. Campillo becomes the fourth Hoosier all-time to garner Big Ten Player of Year honors and first since current PGA star Jeff Overton in 2005. After finishing tied for 12th at last year's championships, Campillo came back this season to claim the individual title and become one of only eight IU golfers to do so since the event started in 1920. The Caceres, Spain, native lead the Big Ten with a 71.62 Golfweek/Sagarin rating, which also earned him the Les Bolstad Award, an honor given to the golfer with the lowest season stroke average. Campillo has a career total of seven conference Golfer of the Week accolades, earning two laurels this year, and is on pace to break Overton's Big Ten record of nine. Campillo piloted No. 19 Indiana to a fourth-place finish at this year's event, which aside from a second-place finish in 2005, was the Hoosiers' best showing since winning the team title in 1998. Langley becomes the third Illinois freshman to win the newcomer award and the first since Patrick Nagle in 2003. The Manchester, Mo., native had a stellar performance at the Big Ten Championships last weekend, placing fourth overall with a 72-hole score of 289 (+1). Langley led his team a third-place showing, the Illini's best finish since 2004. The freshman was honored on Feb. 27 as Big Ten Golfer of the Week, one of only two Illinois players to earn the award since the 2003 season.
In his first year as MSU mentor, Puryear earns Big Ten Coach of the Year accolades, becoming the second consecutive Spartan mentor to win the award as Mark Hankins was honored in 2007. Puryear is now one of only two Spartan leaders to claim conference's top coaching recognition since the award began in 1988. Puryear guided MSU to its third Big Ten Championship in four years, winning the team title by four strokes over Minnesota. The six-man All-Big Ten first team is highlighted by Indiana's Campillo as he earns his third first-team recognition. Michigan State's Ryan Brehm is honored with his second first-team selection after notching runner-up honors at the 2008 Big Ten Championships. The following individuals are all first-time first-team honorees: Michigan's Tim Schaetzel, Michigan State's Randy Hutchison and the Minnesota tandem of Victor Almstrom and Clayton Rask. All-Conference second-team members include Indiana's Seth Brandon, Michigan State's Jack Newman, Ohio State's Kyle Coconis and Bo Hoag, Penn State's Robert Rohanna and Wisconsin's Dan Woltman. The conference office also announced today honorees from each of the conference's 11 men's golf squads for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, the student-athletes must be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. Honorees for men's golf are Illinois' Zach Barlow, Indiana's Campillo, Iowa's Dan Holterhaus, Michigan's Schaetzel, Michigan State's Brehm, Minnesota's Risk, Northwestern's Andy Dekeuster, Ohio State's Kyle Coconis, Penn State's Matt Leon, Purdue's David Gersztein and Wisconsin's Danny Zimmerman. These 11 student-athletes are now candidates for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, as the conference office will honor one male and one female student-athlete from each institution at the end of the school year. A complete listing of the 2008 All-Big Ten teams and individual honors follows. 2008 MEN'S GOLF POSTSEASON HONORS ALL-BIG TEN FIRST TEAM ALL-BIG TEN SECOND TEAM COACH OF THE YEAR: Sam Puryear, Michigan State
Zach Barlow, Illinois |
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