DeKALB (Aug. 24) - Putting the finishing touches on two
successful careers, Northern Illinois University men's
golfers Dave Emanuelson and Mike Suhre were
named to the Collegiate
Golf Coaches Association Academic All-America
squad for the second straight year.
The CGCA honor roll is one of the most
exclusive in collegiate athletics In order to be nominated for
the award, student athletes must have at least
a 3.2 grade point average, play in 85 percent of the
team's matches and have a season average of 77
strokes per round or better.
"I think this may be the toughest award to win
because you have to do well on the course and in the
classroom," NIU links boss Jack Pheanis said.
"I felt that both of them would make it again this year
because they got it as juniors. Dave I was
pretty certain about and Mike really worked his tail off at
the end of the year to get his average down."
The CGCA All-America selection is the second
award Emanuelson and Suhre have teamed up on
this year. On May 25 the duo were named to the
GTE / CoSIDA Spring At-Large Academic All-District
V Team. Emanuelson followed that up with his
second First-Team Academic All-America selection
and the third All-America nod of his career.
"Dave and Mike are both very outstanding
people. I don't think that enough can be said for their
work ethic and their scholastic
accomplishments," Pheanis said. "They have worked just as hard if
not harder than anyone I've ever coached. Even
though we didn't achieve all of our goals this year,
both of them gave me 100 percent every time
out."
Emanuelson graduated from Northern Illinois'
regionally and nationally-recognized College of
Business with a double major in finance and
economics this spring. An eight-time member of the
Dean's List with a cumulative gpa of 3.94, he
plans to attend law school this fall.
The DeKalb native's list of academic awards is
nearly as long as his drives off the tee. His first team
Academic All-America award put him in elite NIU
company as only the sixth Huskie to pick up the
Academic All-America three-peat. On May 1,
Emanuelson was singled out from every Division I
collegiate men's golfer for the MasterCard
Graduate Scholarship Award from the College Golf
Foundation.
Including in Emanuelson's list of academic
awards is a pair of Mid-American Conference Academic
All-Conference honorable mention selections. He
is also a four-time Victory Scholar (3.5 GPA and
higher) in the Northern Illinois Athletics
Academic Excellence Program as well as a four-peater as the
golf team's Scholar Athlete Award winner.
This spring Emanuelson highlighted his playing
career by capturing the first medalist honors of his
Huskie tenure at the El Diablo Intercollegiate,
firing a season-low 217. On the course he was a mark
of consistency, keeping his average all season
within a stroke of his final mark of 74.6 - the second
lowest average on the team.
"Dave is one of the best golfers I have ever
coached and is certainly the best student I have ever
had," Pheanis added. "He's just an unbelievably
good student and athlete. When you start talking
about 'student-athletes,' I can't think of
anyone who better describes the term than Dave. This is a
guy who maintained a straight-A average every
year in school, except for two classes where he got
B's, and he graduated in four years with two
degrees. That is truly amazing."
No stranger to academic excellence, Suhre is a
four-time recipient of Victory Scholar honors and is a
ten-time member of the Dean's List. Last season
he put himself in the elite company of the MAC by
earning the Commissioner's Award for achieving
at least a 3.50 gpa. He completed his degree in
business administration this spring with a 3.72
gpa.
"I think Mike may be the best leader I've ever
had," Pheanis noted. "His work ethic is top shelf, he
works very hard and that spreads to the whole
team. Mike is very optimistic, the glass is always half
full for him and he is always trying to fill
the other half."
Over his five years at Northern Illinois, Suhre
continually improved his game. His final average of 76.9
is over a stroke better than the tally from his
freshman year. He equaled his career-best round of 69
during the opening round of play at the Dr
Pepper Tanglewood Invitational in March, and finished
that event with a season-low 54-hole tally of
221.