SHSU’s William Holcomb Named 2018-19 Men’s Golf Student-Athlete of the Year
FRISCO, Texas – Sam Houston State junior William Holcomb is the 2018-19 Men’s Golf Student-Athlete of the Year, the league announced Monday along with its all-academic teams, All yearly awards are presented by
Ready Nutrition.
Holcomb earns his second consecutive Student-Athlete of the Year and first team all-academic honors after an automatic selection as a 2019 First Team All-Conference nod. The junior pushed the Bearkats to a conference championship and an appearance in the 2019 NCAA Austin Regional, where he tied for 38th individually. Holcomb led Sam Houston State throughout the season with four top-10 finishes and a 71.74 scoring average. He also tabbed the team’s lowest round of the season with a 66 at the Huntsville Toyota Bearkat Invitational (April 1-2). Holcomb is a general business major who holds a 3.55 GPA.
Incarnate Word’s John Hill joins Holcomb on the first team as the Southland’s only other automatic qualifier after a First Team All-Conference selection. The UIW senior business management major holds a 3.63 GPA and led the Cardinals with a fourth-place finish at the 2019 Southland Conference Championship. Accompanying Hill on the first team all-academic squad is UIW teammate Trevor Bailey, a 4.0 business major.
Filling out the remainder of the all-academic first team are Southeastern Louisiana senior Joris Etlin, a 4.0 finance major and New Orleans junior Max Hellstrom.
Lamar earned a trio of second-team selections in Nikolai Schaffrath, Sam Dumez and Cody Banach alongside Abilene Christian’s Bryce Dooley and Central Arkansas’ Miles Smith.
All told, seven institutions are represented on the all-academic squads. Lamar’s three honorees lead the conference, joining UIW as the only institutions with multiple selections.
The All-Academic teams are voted on by a head coach, sports information director and academic/compliance staff member from each Southland Conference institution. Student-athletes must possess a 3.0 cumulative GPA, have completed one full academic year at the nominating institution and participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s competition to qualify for All-Academic selection. Nominees who were also named to the All-Conference First Team or CoSIDA Academic All-District team are automatically named Southland All-Academic.
The Southland Conference awards committee, which consists of one administrator from each of the 13 member schools, votes for the student-athlete of the year. The Southland student-athlete of the year award is presented to one student-athlete who achieves excellence in both academics and athletics. All nominees must have earned at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale and demonstrated athletics achievement for at least two years at the nominating institution.
2018-19 Southland Men’s Golf All-Academic Team
Student-Athlete of the Year: William Holcomb, Sam Houston State
First Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| William Holcomb*2 |
Jr. |
Sam Houston State |
Crockett, Texas |
General Business |
3.55 |
| John Hill* |
Jr. |
Incarnate Word |
McQueeney, Texas |
Business Management |
3.63 |
| Trevor Bailey |
So. |
Incarnate Word |
Cibolo, Texas |
Business |
4.0 |
| Joris Etlin2 |
Sr. |
Southeastern La. |
Frejus, France |
Finance |
4.0 |
| Max Hellstrom |
Jr. |
New Orleans |
Stockholm, Sweden |
Business Administration |
3.88 |
Second Team
| Name |
Class |
School |
Hometown |
Major |
GPA |
| Nikolai Schaffrath |
So. |
Lamar |
Potsdam, Germany |
Industrial Engineering |
3.93 |
| Sam Dumez |
Sr. |
Lamar |
Bordeaux, France |
Finance |
3.60 |
| Cody Banach |
Jr. |
Lamar |
Houston, Texas |
Finance |
3.04 |
| Bryce Dooley2 |
Jr. |
Abilene Christian |
Friendswood, Texas |
Finance |
3.63 |
| Miles Smith |
So. |
Central Arkansas |
Little Rock, Ark. |
Undeclared |
3.66 |
* - 2018-19 First Team All-Conference Selection
2 – Two-time Academic All-Conference Selection