CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. --- Tusculum University student-athletes Mackenzie Butler, Ciara Rattana, Katie Tomassoni and Taylor White have been named to the 2017-2018 Women's Golf Coaches Association Division II All-America 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 3.57 team cumulative grade point average, which was the second highest of Tusculum's 20 intercollegiate sports this year and one of the best amongst the 11 South Atlantic Conference women's golf programs. TU's four honorees were the most of the SAC schools honored.
Butler, a freshman from Milan, Ohio has a 3.76 cumulative GPA and is majoring in biology and pre-medicine. She is a member of the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Tusculum Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List.
Butler played in 18 of TU's 23 rounds this year and posted an 89.0 scoring average while logging a pair of top-25 performances. She finished 21st at the Bob Dibble Classic with a season-best 36-hole total of 84-89=173. She also tied for 20th at the Agnes McAmis Memorial with 86-85-84=255.
Rattana, a senior from Western Springs, Illinois, is being named to the WGCA All-America Scholar Team for a fourth time. She graduated from Tusculum with a 3.61 cumulative GPA while majoring in business. She was named to the SAC Commissioner's Honor Roll, Athletic Director's Honor Roll, Dean's List and Charles Oliver Gray Honors List in all four years with the program.
The four-time All-SAC first team selection led the Pioneers in scoring for a fourth consecutive year with her 76.74 stroke average which is the second lowest average in school history and the best by a TU senior. Rattana recorded nine top-20 finishes in her 10 events, including six times in the top-10 and three top-5 performances. She earned medalist honors in her final home event winning the McAmis Memorial with a 54-hole score of 74-80-70=224.
She posted three top-seven finishes to open the season including runner-up honors at the Dibble Classic and finished sixth at the Patsy Rendleman Invitational. She opened the spring campaign with a fifth-place showing at the Barton Invitational at Kiawah and placed sixth at the LMU Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate. She would wrap up her collegiate career finishing 15th at the SAC Championship.
In her three seasons at Tusculum, Rattana logged a 77.68 career scoring average, which is the second-lowest in program history. Her 86.5 career rounds played are a new school record.
Tomassoni, a junior from Mason, Ohio, has a 3.76 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. In 2018, she was named the SAC Women's Golf Scholar Athlete of the Year.
She finished second on the team with her 77.43 stroke average which is the fifth lowest in program history and the second-best scoring average by a Tusculum junior. The three-time All-Conference selection earned All-SAC second honors in 2017 and was an All-Conference honorable mention selection in 2016 and 2018. She enjoyed her best season at Tusculum this past year where she tallied 77.43 stroke average, which is the fifth-lowest in the TC record book. She amassed eight top-10 finishes including a team-leading five times in the top-5.
Tomassoni won the Dibble Classic where she posted back-to-back rounds of 73-73=146 to capture her second tournament medal of her collegiate career. She tied for third at the LeeAnn Noble Memorial and finished fourth at the Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate. She opened the spring season with back-to-back fifth place finishes at the Barton Invitational and the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate. Tomassoni closed out the regular season with a ninth place showing at the McAmis Memorial. She finished seventh at last month's SAC Championship to earned All-Tournament honors for a second straight year.
Tomassoni has a 78.28 career stroke average at Tusculum which is third-best in school history. The 2018 Tusculum team most valuable player has led the Pioneers to five tournament team titles during her collegiate career.
White, a junior from Kingsport, Tennessee, has a 3.85 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 81.48 scoring average in her 10 events where she logged three finishes in the top-20, including one top-five performance. She finished fifth at the Dibble Classic as she opened with a season-low round of 73 (+1). She also logged a pair of 16th place finishes at the Barton Invitational at Kiawah and the McAmis Memorial.
Her career scoring average of 82.26 is the seventh-lowest by a Tusculum women's golfer.
The Pioneers finished in the top-five in seven tournaments this past season including wins at the Dibble Classic and the McAmis Memorial. TC also finished runner-up at the Myrtle Beach Intercollegiate and the LMU Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate.
