For the first time at South Dakota State, the men’s golf team swept The Summit League postseason awards with junior Grant Smith, freshman Felipe Strobach and Director of Operations Casey VanDamme being honored.
The awards cap the 2015-16 season after the Jackrabbits captured the 2016 Summit League Championship and earned a NCAA Regional berth.
Votes by the league’s head coaches determined the league awards.
Smith earned Summit League Player of the Year after leading the Jackrabbits and finishing second in The Summit League with a career-best 73.72 stroke average. He is the third Jackrabbit—Trent Peterson (2008-09) and Hudson Carpenter (2013-14)—to earn Summit League Player of the Year.
Smith, a first team All-Summit League and Academic All-Summit League selection, finished in the top 5 twice and the top 25 in 6 tournaments. During the year, he was honored as The Summit League Golfer of the Month in September and Summit League Golfer of the Week in February.
Strobach is the first Jackrabbit to earn the Summit League Newcomer of the Year award after posting a 73.91 stroke average that ranked second for SDSU and third in the league. A second team All-Summit League and Summit League All-Tournament selection, Strobach recorded the seventh-lowest scoring average in a single season at State and the lowest SDSU freshman scoring average in the last decade. He finished second in two events, including the 2016 The Summit League Championship, and placed in the top 10 in 4 events
VanDamme, who just finished this second season at SDSU, guided the Jackrabbits to the program’s first NCAA Division I Championship appearance, finishing 11th at the NCAA Kohler Regional May 18. Under VanDamme, the Jackrabbits also won the 2016 Jackrabbit Invitational, the 11th regular-season title at Division I, led the league in stroke average (296.6) and broke two school records. He is the first Jackrabbit men’s golf coach to be honored.
