COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC) announced the 2017 Men's and Women's Golf Academic Awards this week and Karen Valcarce of the Westminster women's golf team was named to the RMAC All-Academic First Team.
 
Valcarce, a sophomore from Bountiful, Utah, becomes the first Griffin to be named to the All-Academic First Team from women's golf. The chemistry major carries a 3.97 grade-point-average (GPA). She led the team this season with her 81.1 strokes per round average. Valcarce finished second at the Maverick Spring Invitational and had a top-10 finish at the RMAC South event in October.
 
The Westminster women's golf team also had Ashley Dechant, Audrey Kriss, and Kalle Lunsford hamed to the RMAC Women's Golf Academic Honor Roll. This is the second straight year that Dechant and Kriss have received the honor.
 
On the men's side, Westminster saw Austin Anderson and Kalin Peterson named to the RMAC Men's Golf Academic Honor Roll. This is the second consecutive year Peterson has earned the recognition. Earlier this month, Anderson was awarded with the Summit Award given to the golfer at the RMAC Championships with the highest GPA.
 
UCCS' Alex Darwin (women) and Colorado School of Mines' Alan Berry (men) are this year's RMAC Golfers of the Year.
 
The award winner, along with the other All-Academic team members, were voted on by the conference's sports information directors. To be eligible for consideration, a student-athlete must carry a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (GPA) and must have been an active student at the institution for at least two consecutive semesters or three consecutive quarters (RMAC Manual 3.5.2).
 
All student-athletes that meet those requirements, but were not voted First Team, automatically qualify for the Honor Roll.