April 27, 2005

Queens, NY - After a season highlighted by five team wins, including the 2005 BIG EAST Championship, St. John's women's golf coach Ambry Bishop was named the league's Coach of the Year, it was announced today.

In her debut season at St. John's, and her first season ever as a head coach, Bishop led the Red Storm to unprecedented success this season. The team had a tremendous fall season, winning three tournaments, and continued that in the Spring when they closed out the regular season by winning the Hartford Invitational.

"Obviously, it's very exciting," Bishop said upon hearing the news. "It's a privilege. Being my first year in coaching, and my first year here at St. John's, it's just a great honor."

This past weekend, the Red Storm shot a 41-over par 329 and led the BIG EAST Tournament after 18 holes of play. The tournament was forced to be shortened to only 18 holes and St. John's claimed the league championship by seven strokes over Georgetown.

It was the first BIG EAST Championship ever for the Red Storm women's golf team and the first for a St. John's women's team since the women's soccer team won the 1994 league title. "That means a lot to me," Bishop said of the BIG EAST title. "Just the fact that I can help contribute to the success of this program, it's very special to me. It's my first conference championship between playing and coaching, and that is a great feeling. It's not only me, because I have a great group of young women o this team."

Under the direction of Bishop, who at 22-years-old is the youngest coach in Division I, the St. John's program has taken off in its third year of existence. In 2003-04, the Red Storm won one team title and did not make the league tournament. In Bishop's first year, the team won five tournaments overall, capping it by winning the league championship.

The Red Storm got off to a great start in the Fall, winning the Mount Holyoke Invitational in their second competition of the season. After a sixth place finish at the Pat Bradley Invitational, St. John's came from behind to win the Rutgers Invitational, led by senior Jaclyn Sanders (London, Ontario, Canada), who shot a four-over par 148 to take medalist honors. They closed out the Fall schedule with a win at the Lady Bison Classic at Bucknell, led by freshman Brittany Lambertson (Northport, NY), who shot an 11-over par 153 and took second.

The team closed out the Spring slate by winning the Hartford Invitational, with senior Jennifer Rhee (Rydal, PA) placing fourth. At last weekend's BIG EAST Championship, the Red Storm had four golfers finish among the top-10, led by junior Christin Thomson (Ft. Frances, Ontario, Canada), who placed fourth.

"Hopefully, it's a sign of things to come," Bishop said. "I'm really pretty lucky with this situation. A lot of the credit goes to (men's head coach) Frank Darby, who recruited this team. I think we're headed in the right direction. There are a lot of programs that go a lot of years not winning as much as we did this year, so to have such a successful season is fantastic."