NORMAN, Okla. – Three Penn State men's golf student-athletes, Alec Bard, Ryan Davis and Lou Olsakovsky were named to the Division I PING All-Northeast Region team as announced by the Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) Saturday. The GCAA annually recognizes NCAA Division I collegiate players across six regions -- Northeast, East, Southeast, Midwest, Central and West. With three Nittany Lion individuals earning honors in 2020-21, Penn State tied Illinois and Rutgers for the highest number of all-region honorees among Big Ten institutions.
Davis, from Berkeley Heights, New Jersey, was honored for the fifth time with GCAA All-Region honors after he competed all four years as an undergraduate from 2016-2020 and as a graduate student in 2020-2021. A first-team All-Big Ten honoree, Davis finished his Nittany Lion career third on Penn State's all-time scoring list with a 72.86 average and with 13 top-10 finishes to his credit. Davis was recognized for Academic All-Big Ten honors for the fourth time in 2020-21, as a Big Ten Distinguished Scholar twice and as a two-time GCAA All-America Scholar.
For the second-straight year, Bard earned All-Northeast Region honors after a 2020-21 season in which he posted Penn State's best totals in two events, the Florida Gators Invitational and the 2021 Big Ten Championships. At the Florida Gators Invitational, he carded a season-low 210 for even par, one stroke shy of tying his career-best total, with back-to-back rounds of 68 and 69. Bard, from New Hartford, New York, recorded three of the Nittany Lions' low single-round scores in 2020-21. He was named to the Academic All-Big Ten list for the fourth time and is a two-time GCAA All-America Scholar.
Olsakovsky was honored as a GCAA all-region selection for the second time in his career after receiving Division III All-Great Lakes Region accolades as a freshman at Allegheny College. In spring 2021, he recorded three of Penn State's best single-round scores, including the team's low round on the final day of the Kepler Intercollegiate to help the Nittany Lions to a second-place finish at that tournament. Olsakovsky, from Upper St. Clair, Pennsylvania, was the Nittany Lions' top finisher at two events in his senior season. He was a 2020 Golf Coaches Association of America All-America Scholar, earned Academic All-Big Ten recognition for the second time following the 2020-21 season.
With three GCAA honors in 2020-21, a total of 83 Nittany Lions have been recognized as All-Northeast Region selections since 1992-93. For the seventh-straight year, Penn State had the highest number of honorees in the region. The Northeast Region, which covers the geographic area from Maine to Washington, D.C., comprises more than 50 NCAA Division I programs and has the largest number of schools of any region.
