April 23, 2009

COLUMBIA, S.C. – South Carolina junior golfers Patrick Rada and Benedicte Toumpsin were named to the Southeastern Conference’s Community Service Team, the league announced Wednesday.

Rada, a junior from Anderson, S.C., majoring in finance, has become one of the Gamecocks’ top players this season, competing in seven tournaments including the SEC Championship. Rada helped with a free youth clinic at The First Tee of Columbia and volunteered at the Daybreak Pregnancy Center. He is a mentor to students and athletes at his high school alma mater (T.L. Hanna) and leads a Bible study for the South Carolina golf team each Friday.

Toumpsin, a native of Sombreffe, Belgium, has been South Carolina’s top player each of the last two years and took runner-up honors at last week’s SEC Championship at Cobblestone Park. Toumpsin has read to children at local elementary schools and worked with The First Tee of Columbia every Saturday during the fall semester. She has visited children in area hospitals, participated in canned food drives and worked with the Hannah House, a ministry for homeless women in the Columbia area.

The Southeastern Conference sponsors Community Service teams in all 20 sports that it sponsors. The Community Service Team looks to highlight student-athletes from the SEC who give back to their communities in superior service efforts.

Rada will join the men’s team at the upcoming Cavalier Classic in Charlottesville, Va., while Toumpsin and the Gamecock women’s team await bids for NCAA Regionals, which will be announced on Monday, April 27.