Women's Golf Second In WCC Tourney; Santos Top Freshman
4/18/2013 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
BREMERTON, Wash. - Gonzaga University's Raychelle Santos was named Freshman of the Year, Brad Rickel earned his third straight Coach of the Year honor and four Bulldogs were named to the All-West Coast Conference Golf Championship first-team Wednesday.
The WCC Golf Championship ended its three-day run at Gold Mountain Golf Course, the Zags finishing second for the second time in three seasons with a WCC school-record 54-hole score of 899. Pepperdine University won its 12th straight title and its 15th in the 17 years with a 54-hole score of 883.
Gonzaga's second-place finishes in 2011 and this season are the only two times in tournament history Pepperdine and the University of San Francisco haven't finished in the top two.
Santos was joined on the All-WCC team by senior Victoria Fallgren, and sophomores Alice Kim and Han Wu. It was Fallgren's third straight honor, surpassing Mary Kate Morgan who earned back-to-back honors in 2006-07.
"I'm happy with the season. It's the best season we've had by far. We finished in the top three in nine of the 10 tournaments we played," Rickel said.
Entering the day four strokes behind Pepperdine's Grace Na, Santos closed to two behind with birdies on No. 9 and No. 12. Santos sank a 20-foot uphill birdie putt on No. 13, but Na responded with a birdie seconds later to remain 2-up. When Santos shot on the par 3 16th fell short into the rough leading to a bogey, Na made par to build a 3-shot lead to all but wrap up her second title and earn her a third WCC Player of the Year honor in as many seasons.
"Raychelle played really solid today. She was paired with the leader and beat her by two strokes today, but just came up two shots short today," Rickel said. "She definitely came out intent on winning the championship. I was impressed with her, especially since she is only a freshman."
"I didn't' come into this tournament expecting to win it," Santos said. "I just wanted to come out and play hard and prove my hard work would pay off."
Fallgren recovered from a triple-bogey seven on the first hole to play par golf the remainder of the round and finish with a 75 which was good for 226 and a tie for sixth. In her four WCC Tournaments in her career she finished tied for 16th as a freshman, tied for eighth as a sophomore, won the title as a junior and finished sixth this season.
Kim shot a final-round 75 to finish at 229 and tied for seventh while Wu had a closing-round 80 for 229 for ninth place. Senior Genavive 'Genna' Dodge, playing in her first WCC Championship, had a 54-hole score of 239 to tie for 19th.
With four selections to this year's All-WCC squad it marked the most in Gonzaga history after having received two first-team nods each of the past two seasons.
"All of them deserved it," Rickel said. "They were among the top seven in stroke average and rankings in this conference. It's a year-long reward and they all finished in the top 10 here. They all deserved it for sure. I'm proud of all of them."
Rickel was named the Coach of the Year in 2011 and shared the award last year with Laurie Gibbs of Pepperdine prior to being voted the honor again this year by his peers.
Although the Bulldogs had aspirations of winning their first WCC golf title this year, they are still very much in the picture for an at-large berth for their inaugural NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bulldogs are now 60-4 this spring, won three tournament titles, finished second twice and third once.
"If 60-4 in the spring season isn't good enough to get us then I don't know what it takes," Rickel said. "We've done everything we can do, it's in other people's hands now but we feel good about it."
The NCAA Division I women's golf Selection Show will be April 29 at 6 p.m. PDT and can be viewed on NCAA.com.
