Aug. 12, 2011
LAS VEGAS (UNLVRebels.com) - Former UNLV women's golfer Therese Koelbaek has been selected as one of two Mountain West representatives for the NCAA's Woman of the Year Award announced the conference office.
Koelbaek is one of 142 college and university nominees for the 21st annual award. In order to be eligible, senior student-athletes must have completed intercollegiate eligibility in her primary sport by the end fo the 2011 spring season, graduated no later than the end of the summer 2011 term and achieved a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 2.5.
The award honors senior student athletes who have distinguished themselves throughout their collegiate careers in the areas of academic achievement, athletics excellence, service and leadership. Nominees represent all three divisions.
Koelbaek was recently named the 2011 Mountain West Female Scholar Athlete of the Year, adding to her long list of post-season accolades.
Koelbaek was also named to the CoSIDA Capital One Academic All-America First Team listing. She is just the third UNLV student-athlete to earn the MW honor, joinging former UNLV tennis star Katarina Malec (1999-00) and Rebel offensive lineman John Greer (2000-01).
Koelbaek was UNLV's 12th Academic All-America 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 Academic All-MW Team member and a three-time NGCA All-Scholar Team honoree.
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 last season along with 13 rounds under par. Her season-low round of 67 was the third-best single round last 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 last year tied for second.
She was also 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).
