INDIANAPOLIS – Indianapolis senior Aaron Monson has been named the 2012 Great Lakes Valley Conference Player of the Year for men’s golf, while Northern Kentucky newcomer Zach Wright and longtime Norse mentor Daryl Landrum have been selected as the league’s Freshman and Coach of the Year, it was announced by the GLVC on Thursday.
Monson, who averaged 74.1 over 28 rounds this season, earns the 10th GLVC Player of the Year award in Greyhounds’ history as the senior recently piloted UIndy to a runner-up finish at the GLVC Match Play Championship. Individually, Monson also finished second at 227 (76-77-74) at the event, three strokes shy of medalist honors. He has been a model of consistency through the season, having also placed runner-up at the Hawkshead Regional, Bowling Green Invitational and the UW-Parkside Invitational. Over this span, Monson was credited with playing the No. 1 toughest schedule and carried an 86 percent winning percentage in head-to-head matches against regional opponents. Monson is the first UIndy golfer to earn the league’s top honor since Seth Fair captured the award in 2010.
Wright had a memorable first – and last – season competing in the GLVC as the Norse will move to the Division I Atlantic Sun next year. He boasted a 75.25 scoring average through 28 rounds, while registering five top-10 finishes this season. Despite struggling to a 40th-place tie at the recent GLVC Championship, Wright responded with two key victories in match-play competition to help lead the Norse to the conference crown. Wright’s semifinal score of 74 was one shot better than Rockhurst’s Brad Welch, while and a final-round 78 earned him a three-shot victory over UIndy's Rob Gleixner. Last month Wright earned one of his five top-10 finishes at The Jewell, placing tied for ninth at 145 (74-71) with two other teammates. He is just the third NKU freshman to earn the league’s top newcomer award as Brandon Brown was honored in 2001 as was David Shearer in 2004.
Landrum earns GLVC Coach of the Year honors for the sixth time in his career. The Norse mentor led NKU to the 2012 GLVC Championship two weeks ago and has since had each player in his starting lineup honored by the conference – a first for the 16-year head coach. In addition to Wright being named GLVC Freshman of the Year, Corey Richmond was recently crowned the 2012 GLVC Champion, an All-Conference selection, and the league’s Player of the Month for April. Michael Schmidt tied for fifth at the conference championship to earn All-Conference accolades, while teammates Jones Brown and Steve Rickels were among the five final All-GLVC members to be selected by a vote from the league coaches.
In addition to Brown and Rickels, Bellarmine’s Bryan Ratterman, Drury’s Shawn Vanderwal and Missouri-St. Louis’ Joe Atkisson were named Thursday to the 2012 All-Conference team. The five individuals join eight others as the top-five finishers and ties at the conference championship were previously honored. The individuals included Monson, Richmond, Lewis’ Brandon White, Maryville’s Dustin Harris, Rockhurst’s Tanner Bulejski and Clarke Fry, and UIndy’s Jacob Yocum.