Men’s Golf Lands Two on All-Conference Team; Gates Named Academic All-Conference

BILLINGS, Mont. – The Montana State Billings men’s golf team earned some postseason hardware Wednesday as the Great Northwest Athletic Conference all-league and academic all-league was announced by the conference office.  Jeff Allen and Travis Gates earned second team all-conference honors, while Gates was named to the five-member academic all-conference squad. 

Western Washington’s Jake Koppenberg was named Player of the Year and Viking head coach Steve Card was named Coach of the Year after the Vikings rallied in the final round of the conference tournament, Tuesday to claim their second straight conference crown.  Zach Grunig of Northwest Nazarene was named Freshman of the Year, while Sheldon Prante of Saint Martin’s was named Newcomer of the Year to round out the specialty awards.

The first team had three players from Western Washington and two players from Saint Martin’s.  Koppenberg had the lowest stroke average for the year at 71.1 for 26 rounds which garnered him Player of the Year honors.  He also won the individual conference championship on a sudden-death playoff with SMU’s John Eisentrout (also a first team selection) Tuesday.  Thomas Jun and Brandon Brown of WWU also earned first team honors, as well as SMU’s Justin Lanman.

Second team honors went to Allen and Gates, as well as Julian Peters of WWU and Olof Rosborg and Prante of Saint Martin’s.  Season stroke averages also determine the all-conference awards.

Gates was the lone Yellowjacket selected to the Academic All-Conference team.  He carries a league-best 3.79 grade point average in environmental studies.  Also named to the team was Rowdy Hope of Northwest Nazarene (3.29) and three student-athletes from Saint Martin’s, including Chris Poulakidas (3.75), Eisentrout (3.29) and Kevin Jech (3.28).

2009 GNAC GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

First Team                                                                         Avg.       Yr.      Hometown

Jake Koppenberg, Western Washington                                 71.12      Sr.      Everett, WA
Justin Lanman, Saint Martin’s                                               74.15      Jr.       Shelton, WA
Thomas Jun, Western Washington                                        74.19      So.      Federal Way, WA (Beamer)
John Eisentrout, Saint Martin’s                                             74.33      Sr.      Olympia, WA
Brandon Brown, Western Washington                                    74.65      Sr.      Kent, WA (Jefferson – WWCC)

Second Team                                                                     Avg.       Yr.      Hometown

Olof Rosborg, Saint Martin’s                                                 75.19      Sr.      Stockholm, Sweden
Julian Peters, Western Washington                                       75.65      Jr.       Mukilteo, WA (Kamiak)
Jeff Allen, Montana State Billings                                          75.80      Jr.       Dillon, MT
Travis Gates, Montana State Billings                                     76.00      So.      Billings, MT
Sheldon Prante, Saint Martin’s                                              76.71      Jr.       Olympia, Wa (Black Hills)

Player-of-the-Year – Jake Koppenberg, Western Washington.   Newcomer-of-the-Year – Sheldon Prante, Saint Martin’s.
Freshman-of-the-Year – Zach Grunig, Northwest Nazarene (Eagle, ID).  Coach-of-the-Year – Steve Card, Western Washington

ACADEMIC ALL-CONFERENCE: Travis Gates, MSU Billings (Environmental Studies, So., 3.79, Billings, MT); Rowdy Hope, Northwest Nazarene (Psychology, Jr., 3.29, Boise, ID); Chris Poulakidas, Saint Martin’s (Visual & Performing Arts, Sr., 3.75, Olympia, WA - Capital); John Eisentrout, Saint Martin’s (Business, Sr., 3.29, Olympia, WA); Kevin Jech, Saint Martin’s (Engineering, Jr., 3.28, Olympia, WA – Black Hills).