May 23, 2017
COLUMBIA, S.C. ââ’¬” South Carolina women’s golf standouts Katelyn Dambaugh and Ainhoa Olarra both received All-America honors from the Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA), the organization announced Tuesday afternoon at the NCAA Championship. Dambaugh was named to the WGCA All-America Second Team, while Olarra was tabbed an Honorable Mention All-American.
Tuesday’s recognition marked the fourth All-America honor for Dambaugh, who grabbed a pair of First-Team laurels last year as a junior after being named an Honorable Mention All-American in her sophomore season. The senior joins Katie Burnett (2008-11) and Justine Dreher (2011-15) on the list of Gamecocks to garner four All-America accolades.
Olarra, who earned a top-10 finish at the 2017 NCAA Women’s Golf Championship on Monday, becomes the ninth golfer in school history to be tabbed an All-American. The Gamecocks have now boasted multiple All-Americans in each of the last four years under coach Kalen Anderson.
Dambaugh, Carolina’s all-time leader in career stroke average (72.67), remained among the nation’s elite in her final season as a Gamecock after finishing 12th in scoring average. The Goose Creek, S.C., native collected five top-five finishes and shot par or better in 17 of her 28 rounds. Dambaugh finished the year with the school’s second-lowest single-season scoring average (71.68) and notched her second career victory in record fashion, earning medalist honors at the 2017 SEC Championship with a 54-hole mark of 204 (-12). The three-round score marked the lowest total in school and tournament history.
Olarra boasted five top-10 showings as a junior, including a fifth-place finish at the 2017 NCAA Columbus Regional. The San Sebastian, Spain, native ranked second on the team in top-20 finishes (7) and rounds of par or better (13), and she ended the season with a career-best 72.71 stroke average, the fourth-lowest single-year mark ever by a Gamecock. Olarra’s 10th-place finish this week marked Carolina’s fifth-best individual showing at the NCAA Championship.