Central Arkansas’ Lewis George Garners 2017-18 Men’s Golfer of the Year

5/3/2018 1:00:00 PM

Southland Conference

FRISCO, Texas – Central Arkansas’ Lewis George is the 2017-18 Southland Conference Men's Golf Player of the Year, the league announced Thursday with the all-conference teams. All yearly awards are presented by Ready Nutrition.

George is the second consecutive Bear to earn the award after Louis Tomlinson was voted for the accolade in 2017. He is also an automatic selection to the All-Conference First Team after finishing first at the 2018 Southland Conference Men’s Golf Championship last week, carding a 71-72-73 for the tournament.

The junior from Cheshire, England, also won the David Toms Intercollegiate, hosted by LSU, in October and received runner-up honors at the Hummingbird Intercollegiate and Duck Commander Intercollegiate. He led the Bears in scoring average for the season at 72.4 and will compete as an individual at the NCAA College Station Regional on May 14-16.

Stephen F. Austin’s Andy Lopez is the Freshman of the Year and a selection to the All-Conference Third Team. The Dallas, Texas, native had a 74.67 scoring average for the year and finished in the top 10 three times this season. He was the March Golfer of the Month.

Sam Houston State picked up two individual superlatives in Austen Christiansen and head coach Brandt Kieschnick. Christiansen, a junior transfer from BYU, tied for fifth individually at the Southland Championship to help the Bearkats claim their third title in five years. He holds a 73.48 scoring average and 1.76 score versus par this season heading into the team’s showing at the NCAA Norman Regional on May 14-16. Kieschnick wins his third Coach of the Year award and first since 2015 after leading his team to three wins on the season and the program’s third NCAA Regional appearance.

The Bearkats placed three members on the All-Conference First Team in senior Jake McCrory and sophomores William Holcomb and Noah Steele. Sam Houston is the first team to accomplish this feat since Southeastern Louisiana did so in 2010. Christiansen was also a second-team pick.

Blake Elliott of McNeese rounds out the first team. The junior from Liberty Hill, Texas, finished second at this year’s Southland Championship and was selected for the NCAA College Station Regional.

McCrory, McNeese’s Ian Berrigan, SFA’s Angelo Leyvani, Houston Baptist’s Carlos Trevino and Nicholls’ Albert Badosa-Soler are each making their second appearance on a Southland All-Conference team.

All-Conference teams and individual superlatives are voted on by each league school's head coach and sports information director. Voting for oneself or one's own athletes is not permitted.

2017-18 Southland Conference Men’s Golf All-Conference Teams

Player of the Year: Lewis George, Central Arkansas
Freshman of the Year: Andy Lopez, Stephen F. Austin
Newcomer of the Year: Austen Christiansen, Sam Houston State
Coach of the Year: Brandt Kieschnick, Sam Houston State

First Team

Name	Class	School	Hometown
Lewis George^	Jr.	Central Arkansas	Cheshire, England
Blake Elliott	Jr.	McNeese	Liberty Hill, Texas
William Holcomb	So.	Sam Houston State	Crockett, Texas
Jake McCrory²	Sr.	Sam Houston State	Deer Park, Texas
Noah Steele	So.	Sam Houston State	Kingston, Ontario

Second Team

Name	Class	School	Hometown
Ian Berrigan²	Sr.	McNeese	Helotes, Texas
Angelo Leyvani²	Jr.	Stephen F. Austin	San Antonio, Texas
Joris Etlin	Jr.	Southeastern Louisiana	Frejus, France
Austen Christiansen	Jr.	Sam Houston State	Houston, Texas
Rodrigo Rivas	Sr.	Central Arkansas	Santiago, Chile

Third Team

Name	Class	School	Hometown
Andy Lopez	Fr.	Stephen F. Austin	Dallas, Texas
Carlos Trevino²	Sr.	Houston Baptist	Monterrey, Mexico
Alex Clouse	Fr.	Abilene Christian	Flower Mound, Texas
Garrett Glanton	Jr.	Abilene Christian	Dallas, Texas
Albert Badosa-Soler²	Sr.	Nicholls	Girona, Spain

² Two-time All-Conference selection
^{^} 2018 Southland Championship top finisher

Honorable Mention: Jake Hendrix, Stephen F. Austin