CORAL SPRINGS, Fla.—After leading the Bucs to a fourth-place finish at the national tournament, Barry University junior Taylor Babcock earned honorable mention from the National Golf Coaches Association.
Babcock led the Bucs with a 77.69 stroke average this year and finished in the top 10 of eight of the 12 tournaments for the Bucs this season. She placed second in the Bucs’ tri-match with Lynn and Florida Tech. Her fifth-place finish at the Marjorie Whitney Invitational helped lead the Bucs to the team championship.
“Achieving All-American status for a collegiate golfer is a nod that you are one of the best in a pool of already exceptional players,” Barry coach Gina Umeck said. “Taylor and I set a goal at the beginning of the year--a viable goal--for her to become an All-American, and it really was a mutual, continued effort to reach this goal. Taylor overcame all kinds of challenges to pursue this--she not only did her best, she did what was required. Coaching Taylor toward this achievement WAS the reward for me. What a year she had. I couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Babcock has steadily improved each year as a Buccaneer shaving her stroke average from 83.20 as a freshman to 80.5 as a sophomore and down to 77.69 this year. She set a Barry record this year with a 88.9 finish percentage, beating the mark of 86.5 that RemiJin Camping set in 2004-05 when she was national Rookie of the Year.
The Bucs set a team record with three event wins this season. In addition to the Whitney, they also placed first at the Ralph Hargett Memorial and at the tri-match with Lynn and Tech. After winning no more than one event in any season, they have captured five event wins in two seasons under Umeck.
Freshman Nancy Vergara grabbed an All-Region honor after averaging 78.89 strokes per round. She finished in the top five four times, including three of the last five events. Her second-place finish at the Marjorie Whitney Invitational was her best.