North Carolina State University Athletics
Women's Golf Welcomes Four Newcomers to Program
9/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Golf
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State women’s golf coach Page Marsh welcomes four new faces to her program for the 2009-10 season. The 10th-year head mentor is excited to get the season started with an influx of new talent.
“We’re thrilled with our new group that we’ve welcomed with open arms this fall,” said Marsh. “Each player brings a different background with them and that has made for a unique group this season.
“Team chemistry has been tremendous this year,” added Marsh. “You can really feel the leadership of our returning players and that has led our group to have a strong focus leading into the start of our season.”
The quartet features one transfer in junior Brooke Baker, and three freshmen.
Brooke Baker, from Edmond, Okla., played the last two years at the University of Tulsa. She competed in eight tournaments during her time there. Baker saw time in two events her sophomore campaign, finishing the year with an 80.0 scoring average over six rounds.
As a freshman she played in six tournaments, including all four events in the fall. Her best finish was 17th place at the Samford Invitational and also had a 35th place performance at the Wolverine Invitational in the fall.
Among the three freshmen, Amanda Baker certainly came from the greatest distance. The Canadian native hails from Nanaimo, British Columbia, a mere 3,050 miles from the NC State campus.
Baker has had an accomplished junior career after winning the 2008 America Junior Golf Association’s Medicus Junior at Walnut Creek event. She also won that same year at the Canadian Junior Golf Association, Mizuno North America Cup qualifier.
In 2007 she took home top honors at the British Columbia Juvenile Girls event.
The next newcomer is Caroline Ellington from New Bern, N.C. She played four seasons of golf at New Bern HS for head coach Dutch Overton. Ellington was a three-year team captain and was named all-region and all-conference four times.
The Park Scholar here at NC State will compete this coming weekend at the Wal-Mart First Tee Open at Pebble Beach. She is representing Wake County and the First Tee of the Triangle.
Mooresville, N.C., native Hayley Hammond rounds out our list of freshman. She played four seasons at Lake Norman HS for head coach Lew Soulsby. The three-year team captain was named all-state twice, conference player of the year three times and was a four-time all-conference and all-region selection.
She also earned honors from the Statesville Record & Landmark and NPC golfer of the year in 2009. Hammond finished second at the 2009 NC 1A/2A/3A state championship after shooting back-to-back rounds of 68 to win the county and conference championship leading up to the state competition.
One interesting family note about Hayley is her cousin Blaine Hammond flew two missions as a space shuttle pilot with NASA.
The Wolfpack get its season under way September 13-14 at the Cougar Classic at Yeaman’s Hall in Hanahan, S.C.
