Fort St. John's Kirby Dreher A Standout At KSU

Dreher closed out a spectacular fall semester that saw her post four consecutive top 10s, a 72.4 scoring average and record a perfect 3-0 mark in match play competition. Dreher is ranked 21st in the United States according to the most recent Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index.

"Kirby had a great fall and really provided some tremendous senior leadership for us," KSU head coach Mike Morrow said. "This is a very well-deserved award and I know she is looking forward to getting back out there this spring and continuing to improve every day."

With a record of 11 Top-10 finishes in her last 16 events, Dreher started the 2008 fall campaign off with a bang, winning the Mary Fossum Invitational to help the KSU Golden Flashes tie for the team title with Michigan State. She followed that with a tie for 10th at the Tar Heel Invitational and a tie for fourth at the prestigious Mercedes-Benz Championship, where she posted a career-low 68 in the second round, equaling for the sixth-best score in school history.

Dreher then capped off the fall by tying for 10th in the medal play portion of the NGCA Hooters Match Play Championship, a tournament that included 14 teams in the top 25, including three of the top four.

The Fort St. John native then posted a 3-0 mark in match play as KSU upended Tulsa, No. 20 Arizona and No. 7 Vanderbilt in a 36-hour span.

The 2008 MAC Championship medalist heads into her final semester with a career scoring average of 75.32, just .01 shy of Tara Delaney's (2004-08) school record. In addition, her score of +3.57 versus par trails only Martina Gillen (+3.26, 2000-04) and Delaney (+3.55). Gillen is also the only player in the 11-year history of the program to finish a season ranked in the top 20 individually, doing so in 2001-02 (19th).

With a sophomore and three freshman joining Dreher in the line-up, Kent State will head into the spring ranked 19th in the U.S. by Golfstat and 21st in the latest Golfweek poll. The KSU Flashes return to action February 8-10 at the Lady Puerto Rico Classic.

Golf World Mid-Season All-America Team
Jane Chin, Sr., UC Irvine
Kirby Dreher, Sr., Kent State
Jodi Ewart, Jr., New Mexico
Caroline Hedwall, Fr., Oklahoma State
Therese Koelbaek, So., UNLV
Cindy LaCrosse, Sr., Louisville
Lisa McCloskey, Fr., Pepperdine
Sydnee Michaels, Jr., UCLA
Azahara Munoz, Sr., Arizona State
Anna Nordqvist, Jr., Arizona State
Lizette Salas, So., USC
Candace Schepperle, Jr., Auburn