Fresh off its Pac-10 Championship two weeks ago, the UCLA
men’s golf team was rewarded over the weekend as coach O.D.
Vincent was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year and sensation Erik
Flores was named Pac-10 Freshman of the Year. In addition, Flores
and sophomore Daniel Im were named to the All Pac-10 First Team.
Flores, from Grass Valley, was a large part of the Bruins’
success this season, finishing in the top 10 seven times this
season. Flores posted a stroke average of 72.10 in tournament play
with nine of 30 rounds under 70. In fact, he finished in the top 3
of tournaments six times. With that support from Flores, the Bruins
overall finished with an astounding 11 team championships. Besides
Flores, junior Chris Heintz, sophomore Kevin Chappell and freshman
Lucas Lee were honored. Heintz was named to the All Pac-10 Second
Team, while Chappell and Lee were named honorable mention. The
Bruins had all five of their players honored. Also benefiting from
that success was Vincent, who was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year
for the third time, the other honors coming in 2003 (UCLA) and 1999
as the coach of Washington. Vincent has led the Bruins to the
Pac-10 title twice in his four-year helm. Arizona State’s
Alejandro Canizares and Rob Grube of Stanford were named as Pac-10
Co-Golfers of the Year. The Bruins begin postseason play in the
NCAA West Regional on May 18 in Tucson, Ariz. The fifth-ranked
Bruins have been given four consecutive NCAA berths.
PAC-10 EXTENDS DEAL: This past week, Fox Sports
Net extended its deal as the Pac-10’s exclusive national
basketball TV partner through the 2011-2012 season. The deal gives
FSN exclusive national cable, broadcast and new-media rights for
men’s regular-season basketball, four women’s
regular-season games, and both the men’s and women’s
conference tournaments. Also, FSN will receive exclusive rights to
sell sponsorships on behalf of the Pac-10 and in conjunction with
the conference tournaments.
FIRST WBNA GAME: Departed senior women’s
basketball player Nikki Blue participated in her first WBNA contest
this past week finishing with 6 points on 3-7 shooting in 21
minutes of action. Last month, Blue was drafted by the Washington
Mystics in the second round of the WBNA Draft.
Compiled by Sagar Parikh, Bruin Sports senior
staff.