May 31, 2005

LAS VEGAS - UNLV men's golf head coach Dwaine Knight was named the Eaton Golf Pride Pacific Region Coach of the Year, while four Rebel golfers were given all-region and All-America scholar accolades as the Golf Coaches Association of America handed out its annual awards on Tuesday.

Knight, who is in his 18th year at UNLV, will be making his 15th appearance as the Rebel golf's head coach at the NCAA Championships, which begin on Wednesday in Owings Mills, Md. He is one of nine regional Coach of the Year recipients and is now a candidate for the Dave Williams Eaton Golf Pride National Coach of the Year award.

The PING All-Region teams were also announced by the GCAA and feature four Rebels. Junior Andres Gonzales, junior Ryan Keeney, senior Ryan Moore and senior Travis Whisman all made the 18-player Pacific Region squad. Each of the nine all-region teams are comprised of 15 golfers and any player ranked in the top 75 nationally in either Golfstat or the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. Members of the all-region teams are eligible for PING All-America honors.

UNLV also had two players named Cleveland Golf All-America Scholars in Moore and Whisman. To be eligible, an individual must be a junior or senior academically, have competed in at least two full years at the collegiate level, have participated in 70 percent of his teams competitive rounds, have a stroke average under 76.0 in Division I and maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.2.