MONARCHS CAA GOLF COACH, PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Old Dominion University senior golfer Geoffrey Harris was named Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year for the second consecutive year and head coach Murray Rudisill was named CAA Coach of the Year.

Both Harris and ODU senior Chris Piercy were named Academic All-Americans by the Golf Coaches Association.

Harris, one of five finalists for the Byron Nelson Award, set an ODU record for single season scoring average (71.76) and recorded 16 sub-par rounds this season. He set the CAA Tournament record with a three-day total of 13-under par at Independence Golf Club (70-66-67=203) in leading the Monarchs to their first ever CAA title.

Harris also won the Matlock Invitational and posted nine top ten finishes in 12 tournaments. A member of the 2002 Palmer Cup team, Harris was also a standout in the classroom. He was recognized along with countryman Chris Piercy as an Academic All-American by the Golf Coaches Association for the second straight year. Both Harris and Piercy graduated in May. Harris was also named ODU's Jack Wilkins/James Howard Male Scholar Athlete of the Year. An All South-Region selection, Harris becomes only the third golfer in CAA history to be named Player of the Year twice.

Rudisill, the dean of college golf coaches in Virginia with 28 years as ODU's head coach, captures CAA Coach of the Year honors for the third time in the last five years, having previously won the award in 1999 and 2000. Under his direction, the Monarchs won the Mission Collegiate Tournament (Orlando) in the fall, and captured their first CAA title in April. ODU shot a final round team score of nine-under par, the second lowest one-day total in tournament history, to erase a five-shot deficit and defeat UNCW in a dramatic playoff to win the Conference crown. ODU, ranked 80th nationally by Golfstat and 90th in the Sagarin poll tied Stanford for 15th at the NCAA West Regional in Auburn, Washington. In all, this is Rudisill's fifth Conference Coach of the Year honor. He was the Sun Belt Coach of the Year in 1984 and 1989.