By Mike Lehman, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Tennessee Tech women's golf team will have a new piece of hardware to add to the trophy case as the Ohio Valley Conference announced Wednesday that the Golden Eagle squad was the recipient of the 2014-15 Team Sportsmanship Award for women's golf. The UT Martin men's squad was also honored.
"I'm very excited for the girls to receive this award," head coach Polk Brown said. "It's truly a testament to the type of individual each one of them is, what they represent and how they conduct themselves on the golf course. This obviously shows that the other teams in the OVC enjoy playing with our girls. I'm just proud of what they accomplished this season and of who they are as both people and student-athletes."
Voted on by the student-athletes and coaches of the respective sports, the team awards are bestowed upon the Conference squads deemed to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA. Included in the areas for evaluation are the conduct of student-athletes, coaches, staff and administrators and fans.
"Without sportsmanship there are truly no meaningful victories," said Beth DeBauche, OVC Commissioner. "The recipients of the OVC Team Sportsmanship awards should accept this award with great pride for their fellow competitors have made it clear their teams exemplify the best in intercollegiate athletics. In receiving this prestigious honor other competitors are saying these student-athletes compete with class, respect their opponents and value fair play. That is quite a compliment as those are all traits that will lead to true victories throughout the course of life."
The 2014-15 school year marks the 10th year the team sportsmanship honors have been awarded. It marks the second-straight and third overall award for UT Martin (2011-12, 2013-14) and fourth overall award for Tennessee Tech (2006-07, 2007-08, 2009-10).
UT Martin finished sixth at the OVC Men's Golf Championship this season while Tennessee Tech was third at the OVC Women's Golf Championship.
Implemented in August 2005, the team honors are the most recent addition to an awards program that recognizes and celebrates sportsmanship within the Conference. In 1998, the league established the Steve Hamilton Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to a male or female student-athlete of junior or senior status who best exemplifies the characteristics of the late Morehead State student-athlete, coach and administrator. Five years later, the Conference added the OVC Sportsmanship Award, presented annually to the member institution selected by its peers to have best exhibited the standards of sportsmanship and ethical behavior as outlined by the OVC and NCAA.
In 1995, the Ohio Valley Conference implemented a first-of-its-kind "Sportsmanship Statement," a policy promoting principles of fair play, ethical conduct and respect for one's opponent. The statement answered the challenge of the NCAA Presidents Commission to improve sportsmanship in collegiate athletics, and has become a model for others to follow across the nation.
The 2014-15 Golden Eagles capped an incredible season, setting a new program record for stroke average in a year, totaling a mark of 313.66 over 29 rounds of play. The new record beat the previous best, turned in by the 2000-01 squad, by nearly two strokes (315.25).
As part of the team record, both Maddi Everts and Whitney Robertson also made individual history by becoming the first Golden Eagle players post a scoring average under 76 for a whole season. Everts wrapped up her junior season with a mark of 75.86 over 21 rounds, missing eight rounds due to injury. Robertson participated in all 29 rounds for Tech in her sophomore campaign, finishing the year with a stroke average of 75.90.
The 2014-15 season also saw the individual 54-hole record broken not once, not twice, but three times. In the first event of the season, Robertson broke the previous mark of 223 set by Everts one season ago, firing off a 222 at the Jan Weaver-Murray State Invitational.
Two weeks later, Everts one-upped her teammate to take her record back, carding a 219 while placing third at the CSU Wendy's Invitational. Wrapping up the fall season in her hometown of Murfreesboro, Tenn., Megan Williamson took control of the 54-hole scoring record, totaling a 218 to finish third at the Blue Raider Invitational.
As a team, the Tech squad posted the second-lowest 18-hole round in program history, exploding for a 294 in the second round of the Blue Raider Invitational. The 2014-15 team recorded the third-lowest 36-hole tournament total in program history with a 605 at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate.
The highlight of the year came at the Blue Raider Invitational as the Golden Eagles shattered the previous 54-hole scoring record of 917 by carding a very impressive 906. This year's squad also saw its first individual medalist since 2009, as Everts took home the top spot at the F&M Bank APSU Intercollegiate with rounds of 73 and 71 for 1 one-over 144.
With no senior members on the 2014-15 squad, the future looks bright for the Golden Eagles women's golf team and fans can be sure that the 2015-16 team will be raring and ready to go come fall.
Photo by Kim Robertson
