Hannah Buck and Olivia Lugar Named NGCA First-Team All-America
St. Louis, Mo., May 14, 2012 – Washington University in St. Louis junior Hannah Buck and freshman Olivia Lugar were named to the 2012 National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA) All-America First Team, as announced by the NGCA. Buck and Lugar also joined sophomore Andrea Hibbert on the NGCA All-Central Region Team.
Buck earns All-America accolades for the third time in her career, following a second-team selection as a freshman and first-team honors as a sophomore. She is the first three-time women’s golf All-American selection in school history.
“We had a season for the record book, in that we shot some really low rounds during competition, both as a team and individually,” said fourth-year head coach Sean Curtis. “We came out early and played well, so we were able to establish ourselves as a team that had some potential to do well in our region as well as nationally.”
Buck competed in all 11 tournaments this season for the Bears and ranked fifth in Division III with a 77.29 scoring average. She fired a school-record 69 on day one of the Illinois Wesleyan Fall Classic on Sept. 11-12 en route to medalist honors. Buck also tied for the individual championship at the Washington University Spring Invitational on March 31-April 1. She fired 20 of 24 rounds at 80 or lower, and finished tied for 34th at the 2011 NCAA Division III Championship.
“Being first-team All-American this year is an honor, even more so than last year because the field has gotten much stronger,” Buck said. “And it's always nice to be recognized for doing well, especially when you've put so much into it. It was also just a great way to conclude the year. Our season is long. And with all the ups and downs we've experienced, it's easy to overlook some of the big accomplishments.”
Lugar led NCAA Division III with a 75.50 average and recorded 22 of 24 rounds at 80 or lower. She carded a career-low round of 71 at the O’Brien National Invitational on Sept. 12 and at the Phoenix Invitational on March 16. Lugar won four of the five tournaments she competed in the fall, and had eight top-10 finishes in her rookie campaign. Lugar finished tied for ninth at the NCAA Championship.
“This season was amazing, and it was very different compared to anything I have been a part of before. Coming from playing as an individual to playing as a part of a team was a transition that was big but easy thanks to my wonderful teammates,” Lugar said. “I have been blessed to have met and played with some really great golfers along the way that have pushed me and kept me on my game, several of them wearing the red and green.”
Hibbert made 11 starts for the Bears in her sophomore season and recorded four top-10 finishes. She was third on the team and 16th in NCAA Division III with a 79.00 scoring average, and recorded 21 of 24 rounds at 85 or lower. Hibbert finished in a tie for 20th place at the NCAA Championship, her second-straight top-20 finish after placing 12th as a freshman.
Washington University made its third-consecutive appearance in the NCAA Championship and was ranked No. 2 in the Golf World/NGCA top-25 poll. The Bears placed in the top-five in nine of 12 tournaments they competed in, and won a Division III-best six tournaments in 2011-12.
“Our lineup was pretty solid in the fall, but changed a little in the spring because of a difference in personnel. It think we did a great job of transitioning with a different lineup, but we didn't have the consistency we had in the fall,” Curtis added. “There was a little more pressure in a couple of the spots to do more than was expected and that affected our team scores. However, we still managed to win to two very good tournaments in the spring.”
The fourth season as a varsity program brought overwhelming success with the Bears posting a school-record 313.00 scoring average, a mark that ranked second in NCAA Division III. Washington U. finished the regular season ranked No. 4 in the Division III head-to-head rankings.