Three Florida International University women student-athletes were among the 952 national collegiate golfers named to the Women’s Golf Coaches Association’s All-American Scholar List.
Outgoing senior Coralia Arias and rising sophomores, Carolina Rotzinger, and Diana Velez, made the grades for the Panthers this past season.
To make the All-American Scholar Team, women golfers must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.50, and are some of the most stringent in all of college athletics.
“The thing I look for in a recruit is a balance,” said FIU Head Coach Joe Vogel. “The ability to take care of the classroom is more important than the athletic side. I find that when they are good students, they can carry on through to the golf course, and I stress that to them when we talk with players about attending FIU. I am encouraged that a pair of freshmen were able to achieve this good start to their careers. It shows a lot of maturity on their part. Coralia is my first golfer to win this award four-straight times.”
Arias reached over 100 total rounds played for the Panthers at the Conference USA Championships at the end of the season. She had the third-lowest stroke average on the team as a senior (76.26), and played in all 10 events for FIU. She graduated with a degree in marketing with better than a 3.70 GPA. She was a Dean's List honoree six times and a three-time C-USA Academic Honor Roll member.
Rotzinger is earning her first academic award following her freshman campaign. She also played all 28 rounds for the Panthers to begin her collegiate career, posting a 76.86 stroke average. Her low round of 70 in October at the Johnie Imes Invitational in Missouri was the fourth-lowest score posted by a Panther for the season, the lowest from the large freshman class.
Velez finished right behind Rotzinger in stroke average, at 77.61 in all 10 tournaments. She also went low in Missouri, firing a 1-under 71 for her best collegiate round. The two freshmen helped FIU finish third in the 15-team field in the second tournament of the season.