May 23, 2006

For the third straight semester, the golf team achieved the highest grade point average of any men’s team in the athletic department, posting a 3.352 mark for the Spring 2006 semester. Two golfers made the President’s List and four earned a spot on the Dean’s List.

“It’s phenomenal that that these kids continue to excel in the classroom, considering all of the travel they do during the season,” head golf coach Puggy Blackmon said. “It shows the strength of our athletes and the academic support program we have here at the University of South Carolina. We’re demonstrating that you can have the best of both worlds, excelling athletically and academically.”

Freshmen Mark Silvers (Savannah, Ga.) and Baker Elmore (Cheraw, S.C.) achieved the 4.0 GPA required for the President’s List. Junior David Kite (Austin, Texas), sophomore Mark Anderson (Beaufort, S.C.), sophomore Warren Thomas (Columbia, S.C.) and Allen Koon (Bamberg, S.C.) made the Dean’s List, which demands a 3.25 or better GPA for freshmen and a 3.5 or better GPA for sophomores, juniors or seniors.

Members of the golf team collected 13 President’s or Dean’s List honors during the 2005-06 school year.

Anderson, Koon and Thomas were part of the five-man squad that competed in last weekend’s NCAA East Regional and clinched a spot in the NCAA Championship with a top-10 finish. All three will also travel to the Championship, which begins May 31 in Sunriver, Ore.