FLORENCE — Senior golfer Jake Greer of Birmingham, Ala., and junior soccer standout Nikki Brown of Bognor Regis, England, have been selected as the 2011-12 University of North Alabama Athletes of the Year UNA Director of Athletics Mark Linder announced Tuesday.
Greer, who helped lead UNA to three Gulf South Conference golf titles in his four-year career, was named UNA's Male Athlete of the Year. Brown, a three-time All-American who also earned Academic All-America honors in 2011, was named UNA's Female Athlete of the Year. The players are nominated by their respective head coaches and the selections were made by a panel of athletic administrators.
Greer, ranked 11th nationally in NCAA Division II this spring by GolfStat, had a 71.91 stroke average in 2012. He helped lead the UNA golf team to a remarkable 77-12 spring record that included the Lions’ third GSC title in the last four years. He helped lead UNA to five total tournament team wins in 2011-12 and a No. 6 national ranking in Division II by GolfStat.
Greer earned All-GSC and All-GSC Tournament honors in 2011-12 and was also All-Tournament at the Southeastern Collegiate (2nd), the AFLAC/Cougar Invitational (5th) and the Indian Bayou Classic (4th). He won medalist honors at the Derrall Foreman Invitational and the TVA Credit Union Invitational.
A four-time All-GSC honoree, Greer was also All-GSC Tournament in 2010 and 2012. He was an All-South Region pick by Ping in 2009, 2011 and 2012 and was a Ping All-American selection three times.
As a freshman in 2009, Greer was the medalist at the 2009 NCAA Division II South/Southeast Super Regional and won the Phil Mickelson Award as the top freshman golfer in Division II. He had six total career tournament wins at UNA
Brown is a three-time first-team All-Gulf South Conference and All-South Region honoree, while also earning Daktronics All-American honors in 2009, 2010 and 2011. She is just the seventh student-athlete in school history to earn both All-American and Academic All-America honors at UNA.
Brown has helped lead UNA to a 52-12-2 record in her three seasons at the school that includes three straight NCAA Tournament appearances (the first in school history), and the first GSC soccer championship in school history (2011).
She has scored 12 career goals and has 44 assists in 64 career matches/ She holds UNA records for most assists in a game, season and career. Ranked among Division II national leaders in assists three straight seasons, Brown ranked third in 2009, second in 2010 and 12th in 2011. She is a two-time Academic All-GSC and Academic All-District selection before being named to the Capital One Academic All-America team in 2011.
The UNA Athlete of the Year awards were created in 1991 and the winner is chosen annually by athletic department personnel.
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