General | Dec 07, 2017

SAINT LEO, Fla. – Saint Leo women's golfer Marie Coors '17 was recognized as one of the top graduating student-athletes across all three NCAA divisions in 2016-17 with her selection for the NCAA Today's Top 10 Award, which was announced Thursday in Indianapolis.

Coors and the other nine honorees will be feted at the NCAA Honors Celebration dinner on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2018, held in conjunction with the 2018 NCAA Convention on January 17-20 in Indianapolis.

Joining Coors as NCAA Today's Top 10 honorees at the 2018 NCAA Convention will be Kasey Cooper (Auburn softball), Danielle Galyer (Kentucky swimming), Sarah Gibson (Texas A&M swimming), Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (Virginia tennis), Maggie Steffens (Stanford water polo), Riley Hansen (Concordia St. Paul volleyball), Lizzy Crist (Washington Univ.-St. Louis soccer), Amy Regan (Stevens Institute of Technology track and field), and Deko Ricketts (Washington Univ.-St. Louis track and field).

Coors will be the first Sunshine State Conference student-athlete to be selected for inclusion among the NCAA Today's Top 10 Award recipients (and its predecessor, the NCAA Today's Top VIII) since the award's inception in 1973.

"This is a tremendous individual honor for Marie, as well as a distinction for Saint Leo University's athletics program," said Francis X. Reidy, Saint Leo director of athletics. "Marie has been recognized for her abilities on the golf course as well as her accomplishments in the classroom throughout her career at Saint Leo, but to be placed in the context of being one of the top student-athletes in last year's graduating class certainly elevates her achievements to a whole new plane. The entire Saint Leo community is elated to see one of its own receive this accolade."

Coors won the individual title as well as the NCAA Elite 90 Award (highest GPA at the NCAA championship site) at the 2017 NCAA Division II Women's Golf Championship and was named the 2017 Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) Division II Golfer of the Year. A three-time WGCA All-American, Coors won the SSC Women's Golf Championship in 2014 and 2016, and was twice named the SSC Women's Golfer of the Year. She is the only SSC student-athlete to earn the conference's Female Athlete of the Year, Female Scholar-Athlete of the Year, and Woman of the Year awards in one year (2017).

In the classroom, Coors posted a 4.0 grade point average and was named the Division II Academic All-America of the Year honoree by the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA). She was the recipient of Saint Leo's Clara McDonald Olson Scholastic Excellence Award, which goes to the graduating senior with the highest GPA over four years at Saint Leo.

The NCAA Today's Top 10 Awards recognizes former student-athletes who completed their athletics eligibility during the 2016-17 academic year for the successes in competition, in the classroom, and in the community. Recipients were selected by the NCAA Honors Committee, which is comprised of representatives from member institutions and a group of nationally distinguished former college athletes.

Recent notable NCAA Today's Top 10 honorees include Mississippi State football player Dak Prescott (2017), Delaware women's basketball player Elena Delle Donne (2014), Baylor football player Robert Griffin III (2013), Florida football player Tim Tebow (2010), and Texas softball player Cat Osterman (2007).

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