SUWANEE, Ga. - In exclusive voting by the head
coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC),
Brian Chafin and Vince Lazar were named men’s and
women’s golf Coaches-of-the-Year, respectively.
In balloting conducted at the conference championship tournament,
James Charles of Southwestern University and Camila Romero of
DePauw University were selected as SCAC Freshmen-of-the-Year.
Brian Chafin of Centre College was honored as
men’s Coach-of-the-Year for the first time in his golf
coaching career. The Colonels captured their first-ever SCAC
men’s golf title at this year’s conference tournament
at Stone Mountain, Ga., and, representing the conference as the
league’s automatic qualifier, finished in 13th place in
just the program’s second ever trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Chafin, previously a four-time conference Coach-of-the-Year (twice
in the SCAC era 1994 and 1995) as the Colonels’ head
men’s soccer coach, is the first golf coach from Centre to
earn Coach-of-the-Year honors.
Like Chafin, Vince Lazar of DePauw University
guided his squad to a conference title and he was rewarded with his
sixth SCAC women’s Coach-of-the-Year honor. The conference
title was DePauw's sixth in 12 years of SCAC competition and first
since 2006. DePauw also captured the conference's automatic
qualification into the NCAA Division III Championships, the seventh
straight year the Tigers have competed in the tournament. DePauw
finished in sixth place at the 2010 tournament – the sixth
time DePauw has finished in the top 10 nationally. Lazar was also
named the 1999 SCAC Co-Coach-of-the-Year in men’s golf.
James Charles of Southwestern, the 2010 SCAC Men’s Freshman Golfer-of-the-Year, has taken well to the collegiate level. He finished in the top 10 four times, coming in as high as third on two separate occasions, including a runner-up finish at the SCAC conference championship. He produced a 76.14 scoring average, which was second-best on the Pirate squad that finished as SCAC Men’s Co-Champions and just narrowly missing out on an NCAA championship berth.
Camila Romero of DePauw, the 2010 SCAC Women’s Freshman Golfer-of-the-Year, was third on the team with an 83.3 stroke average. In 11 tournaments, Romero recorded five top 10 finishes, including three in the top five. The Cali, Columbia native won DePauw's Katman Klassic with a two-round 155. Romero carded her season low round of 74 at the Illinois Wesleyan Spring Fling and most recently helped the DU Tigers to a sixth place finish at the 2010 Division III National Championships.