May 9, 2008

CHOUDRANT, La. -- Louisiana Tech's golf team held a banquet Friday night at Squire Creek Country Club in recognition of another successful season.

"This is to recognize and reward our student-athletes," Tech golf coach Dr. Jean Hall said. "They're just great kids, and they all have high academic scores. They are all outstanding young men we are extremely proud of."

Numerous awards were handed out during the evening beginning with the presentation of the "Eagle Award" given to Debbie Rivers, who established an endowed scholarship for the golf program. Rivers is recognized as an outstanding player and teacher in this area and was a state amateur championship. Rivers' husband Jim, who the scholarship is named after, played between 1953-56 and was captain for three years at Louisiana Tech.

Sophomore Matthew Harvey is also the first recipient of Jim Rivers scholarship. Debbie gave Harvey his first golf lesson at 10 years old.

Harvey was also awarded both the Top Dog and MVP honors after having such a successful season he earned First Team All-WAC honors and was the first athlete at Tech to do so since joining the conference in 2001. Harvey earned WAC Player of the Month honors for the month of October and shot a season average of 73.13, which is the lowest season average for Louisiana Tech since 1993.

The Most Improved Player Award went to junior Ryan Robertson, while junior Amrith de Soysa earned The Bulldog Award.

Senior Chad Bailey earned The Captain's Award, while Corey Bartlett garnered The Coaches' Award. Graduating seniors Preston Smith, Dustin Baker and Bailey also took home The Lettermen Awards for their final seasons of play.