In my last post, I mentioned that Chichester’s Aurora Kan
won the 2010 PIAA Championship in a playoff with West Chester East’s Gabriella
DiMarco.
There was actually a third player involved in the playoff
that day at the Heritage Hills Golf Resort, although she was knocked out on the
first hole of that playoff. I heard her name as I watched some of the coverage
of the first round of matches at the NCAA Tournament Tuesday morning on The
Golf Channel. Well, Lisa Cornwell butchered her name, but I knew who she meant
went she said Stani Schiavone had won the Women’s Golf Coaches Association’s
Kim Moore Spirit Award.
The purpose of the award, named for former University of
Indianapolis standout Kim Moore, is to recognize a student-athlete or coach who
exemplifies a great spirit toward the game of golf, a positive attitude on and
off the golf course, is a role model for her team and shows mental toughness in
facing challenges.
Schiavone is a Bangor native and was among Pennsylvania’s
top high school players when Kan was clicking off top-five finishes for four
straight years at Heritage Hills. DiMarco even said that day that it was
fitting that the playoff for the state title came down to the three best
players in the state.
Schiavone had a strong freshman season at Baylor, but was
staggered by the deaths of some of the most important people in her life. She
transferred to the University of Mississippi and then started having back
problems. She was diagnosed with a ruptured disc and had to undergo back
surgery. She missed the fall part of one season, but was back on the course the
following spring.
Schiavone’s road back culminated when she flashed the kind
of ability she has always possessed by firing a 65 in the final round of the
Samford Invitational this spring.
“It is such an honor to get this award,” Schiavone said on
the Ole Miss website. “I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish any of my golf or academic goals without my
teammates, coaches and family. They have been my constant support system and
have allowed me to flourish on the course and in the classroom and I appreciate
their support throughout my collegiate career.”
Schiavone, who majors in mathematics education, is a
two-time WGCA All-American Scholar Athlete. She earned the University of
Mississippi’s Taylor Medal this spring, the highest academic honor a student
can receive at Ole Miss, awarded to less than one percent of students.
I’m guessing Schiavone was rooting for those Baylor Bears as
Lauren Whyte, a freshman from St. Andrew’s, Scotland outlasted Duke’s Lisa
Maguire, a freshman from Ireland, in a wildly entertaining 24-hole marathon
Tuesday that put Baylor in Wednesday’s championship match against Stanford.
No comments:
Post a Comment