April 12, 2013

The 2013 WCC Men's Golf All-Academic Team was announced today and USD has three of the eight members. USD Toreros earning WCC All-Academic honors included a trio of sophomores - Linus Vaisanen (3.51 GPA, Finance), Grant Forrest (3.29 GPA, Undeclared), and Alexis Gemme-Piacente (3.23 GPA, Undeclared). To be considered, a student-athlete must maintain at least a 3.20 cumulative grade point average, while also being a significant contributor to the team.

The USD golf team, coming off a solid third place showing at the ASU Thunderbird Invitational last week, head to the Pacific Northwest to participate in the 2013 West Coast Conference Golf Championships. This year's tournament is being held at Gold Mountain Golf Club (Olympic Course, par 72; 7168 yards) in Bremerton, Washington from Monday, April 15th thru Wednesday, April 17th.

USD, currently ranked #72 in the nation (Golfstat.com), will send the following Toreros to compete - sophomore Grant Forrest (East Lothian, Scotland), junior Taylor Schmidt (Boise, Idaho), sophomore Linus Vaisanen (Helsinki, Finland), sophomore Alexis Gemme-Piacente (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and junior Joe Carlson (Inverness, IL).

Forrest, last year's WCC Freshman of the Year and a 1st team All-WCC selection, is USD's top golfer with his 72.55 scoring average (29 rounds). At last week's ASU Thunderbird Invitational, he placed 4th overall out of 100 golfers with his 7-under par 206 (68-68-70). He is followed by Vaisanen (74.79; 29 rounds), Schmidt (75.13; 15 rounds), Carlson (75.50; 12 rounds), and Gemme-Piacente (75.61; 26 rounds).

At last year's WCC Championships (San Juan Oaks GC in Hollister, Calif.), the Toreros placed 5th overall with Alex Ching (WCC Player of the Year) placing second overall with his 8-under par 208 (72-70-66). Grant Forrest tied for 4th at 5-under 211 (70-69-72), and teammate Alexis Gemme-Piacente tied for 19th at 220 (78-71-71). Saint Mary's, who is currently ranked 35th in the nation, ran away with the team title (-20, 844) and the Gaels' Ben Geyer edged out Ching for medalist honors with his 207, matching Ching's final round 66.