PROVO -- BYU golfer Daniel Summerhays has received CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine Academic All-District First Team honors with a 3.91 grade point average as a financial services major. As one of 11 first-team honorees awarded in District VIII, Summerhays is now eligible for Academic All-America consideration.
In addition to his academic prowess, Summerhays has excelled on the golf course and will represent the Cougars at the NCAA Championship on Wednesday. Summerhays qualified for the national tournament after posting an impressive final-round total of 9-under-par 63 for a fifth-place finish at NCAA Regionals. In October, he set an NCAA record with an 11-under-par 60 in the final round of the PING Preview.
The Farmington, Utah, native led the Mountain West Conference in stroke average (70.17) this year and is currently ranked No. 7 nationally by Golfstat and No. 12 by Golfweek. He has carded seven top-5 finishes and 12 top-20 placements. In April, he earned his first career victory at the PING Cougar Classic while his third-place finish at the MWC Championship in May led the Cougars to their first conference title since 2001.
Summerhays earned the District VIII recognition from a field of at-large nominees from 12 different sports in nine states and Canada. The District VIII teams were comprised of student-athletes from Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawai'i, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington along with the province of British Columbia, Canada. The athletes nominated represented the sports of golf, gymnastics, hockey, lacrosse, fencing, rifle, skiing, swimming, tennis, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.
BYU student-athletes earning District VIII Second Team honors were men's swimmer Travis Price, women's gymnast Lisa Willis and women's tennis player Anastasia Surkova.