CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. --- Tusculum College student-athletes Taylor Lambertsen, Ciara Rattana, Katie Tomassoni and Taylor White have been named to the 2016-2017 Women's Golf Coaches Association Division II All-American Scholar Team.
Criteria for the WGCA All-America Scholar Team include: having a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.50 and have participated in 50 percent of the team's competitive rounds.
The Pioneers boasted an impressive 3.55 team cumulative grade point average, which was the second highest of Tusculum's 16 intercollegiate sports this year and one of the best amongst the 12 South Atlantic Conference women's golf programs.
Lambertsen, native of Palos Park, Illinois, earns her first WGCA honor of her career as she finished with a 3.50 GPA after earning her degree in sport management last December. Lambertsen was a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll and the Athletic Director's Honor Roll.
In her four seasons with the program, she accounted for an 82.96 career stroke average, which is the ninth lowest in school history. She also logged 81.5 competitive rounds played, which are sixth in the program record book.
This past season, Lambertsen finished fourth on the team with her 80.70 scoring average which included three top-20 finishes, including an 11th place showing at the Kiawah Intercollegiate, 17th at the Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate and 19th at the South Atlantic Conference Championship.
She fired a career-best 73 (+1) in the opening round of the SAC Championship, hosted by Tusculum at Link Hills Country Club. She finished with a 54-hole score of 234, which is seventh in program history.
Rattana, a junior from Western Springs, Illinois, is making her third appearance on the WGCA All-America Scholar Team. She has a 3.58 cumulative GPA and is majoring in business. She is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List.
The three-time All-SAC first team selection led the Pioneers in scoring for a third consecutive year with her 77.27 stroke average which is the third lowest average in school history and the best by a TC junior. She became the third Tusculum player to qualify as an individual competitor for the NCAA Division II Championship, where she played at the South Super Regional in South Carolina.
Rattana recorded nine top-20 finishes in her 12 events, including seven times in the top-10 and six in the top-five. The 2015 SAC Freshman of the Year finished runner-up in back-to-back events at the Patsy Rendleman Invitational and the Flagler Fall Slam. At the Flagler event, she carded a career-best round of 70 (-2) which is tied for the third-lowest round in school history. Her two-day tally of 145 at Flagler is tied for the fourth-best 36-hole score by a Pioneer. She also finished third at the 2017 SAC Championship with 76-75-75=226 for the second-best 54-hole score in TC history and earned a spot on the SAC All-Tournament first team.
In her three seasons at Tusculum, Rattana has a 78.02 career scoring average, which is currently the second-lowest in program history.
Tomassoni, a sophomore from Naples, Florida, has accounted for a 3.72 GPA in her second season while majoring in sport management. She is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List.
She finished second on the team with her 77.57 stroke average which is the fourth lowest in program history and the second-best scoring average by a Tusculum sophomore. For her efforts, Tomassoni was named to the All-SAC second team. She played in 11 events where she posted eight finishes in the top-20, five in the top-10 and three times in the top-five. She captured medalist honors at the Etowah Intercollegiate, sinking a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole to earn her inaugural individual title. She also garnered runner-up honors at the Tusculum Fall Classic and the Wingate Intercollegiate Challenge. She posted a career-best 71-73=144 (Even) at the TC Fall Classic, for the second-lowest 36-hole score in program history. She also tied for eighth place at the 2017 SAC Championship with 77-74-77=228 to earn SAC All-Tournament second team laurels.
Tomassoni's career stroke average of 78.75 is currently the third-lowest by a Pioneer golfer.
White, a sophomore from Kingsport, Tennessee, has a 3.84 GPA while majoring in athletic training. She is a member of the Athletic Director's Honor Roll, SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List.
White tallied an 82.13 scoring average in her 11 events where she logged three finishes in the top-20, including a pair in the top-10. She tied for sixth place at the Tusculum Fall Classic with 76-75=151 and preceded that with an 82-78=160 at the Etowah Intercollegiate, which was good enough for sole possession of seventh place. She fired a career-best 73 to open the SAC Championship and finished the event with a 54-hole score of 233 to finish 18th. Her 233 is the sixth-best 54-hole tally in program history.
Her two-year scoring average of 82.76 is the eighth-lowest by a Tusculum women's golfer.
The Pioneers enjoyed an outstanding season winning three team tournament titles at the Etowah Intercollegiate, Tusculum Fall Classic and the Patsy Rendleman Invitational. TC also finished runner-up at the SAC Championship with school-record score of 298-303-310=911.
