Wake Forest Athletics
Natalie Sheary Named ACC Co-Player of the Year
5/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
May 4, 2009
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest women's golf team was well represented on the 2009 All-ACC Women's Golf team as Natalie Sheary was named Co-Player of the Year, head coach Dianne Dailey was named Coach of the Year and Nannette Hill earned her third All-ACC honor.
Sheary becomes just the fourth Demon Deacon to be named ACC Player of the Year, joining Stephanie Neill in 1995, Laura Philo in 1996 and Nuria Clua in 2003. She shares the Co-Player of the Year tag this season with Duke's three-time National Player of the Year Amanda Blumenherst.
The West Hartford, Conn., native won two tournaments this season and is currently second on the team with a 74.0 stroke average. Her crowning achievement came last month when she defeated Blumenherst on the first playoff hole to claim her first ACC Individual title.
This is the second-straight season that Sheary has earned All-ACC honors and with that, she is still on pace to join Stephanie Neill as the only Demon Deacons to earn All-ACC honors four-straight years.
Sheary started this season by finishing tied for 39th at the Fall Preview and then tied for 31st at the Mason Rudolph Championship. Since then however, she has yet to finish outside of the top-20, including two wins and four top-5 finishes. She is currently ranked No. 21 in Golfweek's latest Sagarin rankings.
Hill picked-up All-ACC honors for third time in her career, joining Neill (1992-95), Philo (1995-97), Alexandra Armas (1995-96, 1998) and Marta Prieto (1998-99, 2001) as the only Demon Deacons with three honors. She received the award as a freshman in 2006 and again last year as a junior.
Hill currently leads the team with a career-best 73.9 stroke average through 25 rounds and finished in the top-5 five times this season. One of those times came at the LSU/Cleveland Classic where she finished fourth after carding rounds of 72-70-68=210 (-6). Her 210 total was the lowest 54-hole score recorded in school-history.
Head coach Dianne Dailey also claimed her third ACC Coach of the Year honors this year in voting conducted by the conference's nine head coaches. She earned the award in 1994 and 1995 as well, which is also the last two times Wake Forest won the ACC Tournament Title.
Dailey is in her 21st season at the helm of the program and has now coached four ACC Players of the Year, three Rookies of the Year and 10 different players to All-ACC honors. This year, the team won three tournaments for the first time since the 1995-96 season and claimed its third ACC Title under Dailey.
Wake Forest now turns its attention to the NCAA Central Regional, which will start this Thursday at the Ohio State Scarlet Course in Columbus, Ohio.
2009 All-ACC Women's Golf Team
(alphabetical by school)
Amanda Blumenherst (Sr.), Duke
Jennie Lee (Sr.), Duke
Caroline Westrup (Sr.), Florida State
Jessica Hollandsworth (Fr.), Maryland
Catherine O'Donnell (Fr.), North Carolina
Allie White (Fr.), North Carolina
Lauren Doughtie (Sr.), NC State
Calle Nielson (So.), Virginia
Jennie Arseneault (Sr.), Virginia
Whitney Neuhauser (Jr.), Virginia
Nannette Hill (Sr.), Wake Forest
Natalie Sheary (So.), Wake Forest
ACC Co-Players of the Year
Natalie Sheary, Wake Forest
Amanda Blumenherst, Duke
ACC Freshman of the Year
Catherine O'Donnell, North Carolina
ACC Coach of the Year
Dianne Dailey, Wake Forest
Players Mentioned
