May 25, 2012
Notre Dame, Ind. – While the Notre Dame women’s golf team was busy this spring working its way towards a second-place finish at the BIG EAST Championship and a fifth consecutive trip to the NCAA Regionals, the squad was also getting it done in the classroom.
For the third consecutive semester, the Irish women’s golf team has set a record for the best team grade-point average among all Notre Dame teams. For the spring of 2012, the team recorded a 3.776 grade-point average with four members of the squad being named to the Dean’s List.
On May 2nd at the annual O.S.C.A.R.S. awards ceremony, the team was honored for having the highest team G.P.A. for the previous two semesters (spring of 2011 and fall of 2011), recording a 3.638 GPA in the spring and then following it with a 3.655 GPA last fall. Those two grade-point averages, at the time, were the best team averages by any Irish squad since the University began keeping those records.
The five student-athletes responsible for setting the new team mark are seniors Katie Allare (Phoenix, Ariz.) and Becca Huffer (Denver, Colo.), sophomore Kristina Nhim (Cypress, Calif.) and freshmen Ashley Armstrong (Flossmoor, Ill.) and Kelli Oride (Lihue, Hawaii).
Since 2009, the women’s golf program has seen its team grade-point average rise from 3.406 to 3.776. In the last 12 semesters (covering six years), the team has recorded just one semester below 3.00 and in Coach Susan Holt’s six seasons has a grade-point average of 3.438.
On the course, the women finished second at the BIG EAST Championship, losing the team title by one stroke to the University of South Florida while Armstrong took the individual title. At the NCAA Regional at Ohio State, the Irish finished 15th in the 24-team field while Armstrong and Huffer were the top individuals, finishing in a tie for 26th with 12-over par totals of 228.
Holt will lose two members of the 2011-12 team to graduation as Allare graduated with a degree in Political Science and Huffer with a degree in Industrial Design on May 20th.