Michele Nash Named Horizon League Player of the Year

INDIANAPOLIS, IND. -- Butler junior Michele Nash, who helped led Butler to its fifth Horizon League women’s golf title in seven years, has been named 2011 Horizon League Women’s Golfer of the Year.  She’s the third Butler women’s golfer to win the league’s top individual honor.

Nash captured individual medalist honors at the 2011 Horizon League Women’s Golf Championship in Florida, shooting a 54-hole total of 233.  She carded the tournament’s best individual round with a two-under-par 71 on the second day, and she was one of just five golfers to break 80 on the final day of the championship.  She became just the fourth player in Butler women’s golf history to capture Horizon League medalist honors.

Butler’s season-long scoring leader, Nash also was named to the Horizon League Women’s Golf All-League team for the second consecutive season, and she was named to the league’s All-Tournament Team for the second straight year.  Senior Molly Fields, who tied for seventh at the 2011 Championship, joined Nash on the All-Tournament Team.

Nash was the first Butler athlete to be named Horizon League women’s golf Player of the Year since  2007, when Niki Garden earned the award.  Butler’s Lynnsey Showers was named Player of the Year in both 2005 and 2006.

Butler head coach Bill Mattingly, who will guide the Bulldogs to their first NCAA Tournament appearance, was named the 2011 Horizon League Women’s Coach of the Year.  The Bulldogs will begin play in the NCAA Central Regional at Notre Dame on Thursday, May 5.