BUIES CREEK, N.C. – Anna Svanka of Riga, Latvia and Sofie Huseby of Oslo, Norway and have signed athletics grants-in-aid with Campbell University, head women's golf coach John Crooks announced Monday. The pair joins a Fighting Camel program that has earned NCAA post-season berths 18 times in the last 23 years, including back-to-back trips to the NCAA Championship.
Svanka has claimed 11 junior titles in her career and three open championships. She won the 2013 and 2014 Lithuanian Open events and the 2014 and 2015 Latvian Open. The top female amateur player in Latvia, Svanka has been a member of the Latvian Youth Olympic U-18 squad since 2012.
She is a member of the Latvian national team and has represented her country at The Junior Open, The Baltic Cup, European Ladies Amateur Championship, The Duke of York Young Champions trophy, The Annika Invitational Europe, the Junior Orange Bowl, Girls' British Amateur Open and European Young Masters.
"I've had the opportunity to watch Anna play for the last two and a half years, and every time I see her, she's become stronger, longer and better," said Crooks, who is entering his 25th year in charge of the women's program. "She's an outstanding talent, a great student and we are looking for her to have a great career."
Huseby represented her native Norway in the European Junior Team Championship in 2013. She also played for her country in junior tournaments against Sweden. She played 10th in the 2013 Annika Invitational and won the Norwegian junior team championship in 2013 and 2014.
"Sofie might have one of the best attitudes I've come across as far as being a great teammate, leading by example and never quitting," said Crooks. "She has represented her country a number of times and I feel like she'll be a very positive addition to a pretty good team."
After earning an NCAA regional berth for the 18th time in 23 years, Coach Crooks' team finished sixth at the NCAA Raleigh Regional (May 7-9) to secure its second-straight trip to the NCAA Championship (May 22-27 at Bradenton, Fla.), where CU finished 23rd. The Camels finished as runner-up in the 2015 Big South Conference Championship and received an at-large bid and were seeded 14th in the 18-school Raleigh Regional. The back-to-back NCAA Championship berths were the first in Campbell's 26-year team history and also the first-ever for a Big South Conference women's golf program.
Four Camels – Louise Latorre, Tahnia Ravnjak, Lisbeth Brooks and Nadine White – were chosen to the Big South all-conference team. White and senior Brooke Bellomy earned Big South all-championship team honors after top-five performances at the league tournament. Brooks became just the eighth player in the program's history to earn all-conference honors four times and just the third to play in four regional events. Crooks stands fourth overall and second among active NCAA Division I coaches with 76 career tournament coaching victories.
