June 9, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - One of the most decorated golfers in UNLV's history has added to her list of accolades, as Therese Koelbaek was named to the CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-America First Team list.
Koelbaek is UNLV's 12th first-team selection and first since Linda Frohlich in 2002. She graduated with a degree in marketing, finishing with a 3.97 GPA. She was a four-time MW Academic Team member and a three-time NGCA All-Scholar Team honoree.
"This is a tremendous honor for Therese," said head coach Amy Bush. "To be the first women's golfer to earn this award speaks to how hard it is. Therese was not only a complete player for our team for four years, but an amazing student."
Koelbaek became the fourth Rebel in program history to earn the Mountain West Golfer of the Year honor, earning the prestigious award prior to the start of the 2011 MW Tournament. The Holte, Denmark, native joined Sunny Oh (2003-04), Elena Kurokawa (2004-05) and Da Sol Chung (2005-06) as Rebels to earn the honor.
Koelbaek, the 2011 MW Medalist and a four-time All-MW performer while a Rebel, was nothing short of spectacular for the Rebels this past season. She led the conference in scoring average at 72.00 strokes per round, more than one and a half strokes ahead of second-place Brooke Beeler of TCU.
She posted 10 top-eight finishes this season along with 13 rounds under par. Her season-low round of 67 was the third-best single round this season in the MW. Koelbaek earned Golfer of the Month honors three times this season, marking just the second golfer to accomplish the feat (Valentine Derrey, TCU, 2007-08).
Koelbaek finished the year with the lowest scoring average in UNLV history at 72.27 strokes per round, giving her four of the top five season averages. She twice carded the lowest round in program history at 66 and her round of 67 during the Las Vegas Collegiate Invitational this year tied for second.
She was the first women's golfer in UNLV history and fourth in MW history to earn All-MW honors four times, joining Kailin Downs (2001-05) and Jodi Ewart (2006-10) of New Mexico and Valentine Derrey of TCU (2006-10).
She is currently competing in the British Ladies Amateur Championship in Portrush, Northern Ireland. Koelbaek will remain in Europe and compete in several tournaments, including the Ladies European Team Championship and the Danish International Ladies Amateur Championship before returning to the United States for Stage 1 of the LPGA Qualifying School in late July.
To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director.
Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 14,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.
For more information about the Academic All-America® Teams program, please visit www.cosida.com.
