June 3, 2002
Notre Dame, Ind. – Notre Dame freshman golfer Karen Lotta (Los Angeles, Calif.) has been selected to the 2001-02 NCAA Division I All-Independent women’s golf team.
The players selected to the All-Independent team come from the 17 NCAA Division I women’s golf programs that compete as independents not affiliated with a conference or league. Those 17 schools include Augusta State, Birmingham-Southern, Bucknell, Butler, Centenary of Louisiana, Cleveland State, Dayton, Gardner-Webb, Georgetown, Holy Cross, Lipscomb, Miami (Fla.), Morris Brown, Notre Dame, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Pan-American and Xavier.
Nominations and voting for the team was done by the coaches and sports information directors from the 17 schools.
Lotta was Notre Dame’s top golfer all season long turning in a 78.95 average for 21 rounds which is the lowest single-season average in Notre Dame history (previous best was 79.50). Lotta had 19 of the 21 rounds she played count to team scoring and had four top 10 finishes in the nine tournaments the women played in 2001-02. Her top finish was a tie for third at the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Islander Fall Invitational. Lotta also had a fifth-place finish at the Notre Dame Invitational, a ninth-place finish at the Islander Spring Invitational and a second fifth-place finish at the Snowbird Invitational in March.
Joining Lotta on the first team were Miami’s Camilla Hilland and Tina Miller, Birmingham-Southern’s Laura McCaslin and Melissa Newman-Gillespie of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Hilland was selected as the All-Independent Player of the Year and Miller took Freshman of the Year honors. Melissa Mason of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was the top newcomer of the year and Miami’s Lela Cannon was selected Coach of the Year.
2001-02 NCAA Division I All-Independent Women’s Golf Teams
Player of the Year
Camilla Hilland – Miami (Fla.)
Newcomer of the Year
Melissa Mason – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Freshman of the Year
Tina Miller – Miami (Fla.)
Coach of the Year
Lela Cannon – Miami (Fla.)
First Team
Camilla Hilland – Miami (Fla.)
Karen Lotta – Notre Dame
Laura McCaslin – Birmingham-Southern
Tina Miller – Miami (Fla.)
Melissa Newman-Gillespie – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Second Team
Abby Fowler – Xavier
Jess Hetrich – Bucknell
Melissa Mason – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Alessandra Perez – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
Lauren Smith – Augusta State