UW Golfers Coe-Kirkham, Dales Earn Academic All-America Honors

* University of Wyoming press release

LARAMIE -- University of Wyoming men’s golfers Kirby Coe-Kirkham and Jimmy Dales were named Academic All-Americans on Wednesday as selected by the College Sports Communicators (CSC). Coe-Kirkham was named Second Team Academic All-American in the At-Large category and Dales was named to the Third Team.

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It is the first time in both Coe-Kirkham’s and Dales’ careers that they earned the honor from the CSC. They were joined on the CSC Academic All-America At-Large team by Cowboy wrestler Jacob Wright, who earned First Team honors.

The two received Academic All-District honors in the At-Large category in May of this year, which qualified them for the Academic All-America ballot. The At-Large category includes the 10 men’s NCAA sports of fencing, golf, gymnastics, ice hockey, lacrosse, rifle, skiing, volleyball, water polo and wrestling.

Both Coe-Kirkham and Dales achieved perfect 4.00 cumulative grade-point averages at the University of Wyoming and both graduated in May 2023 with their bachelor’s degrees from UW.

Coe-Kirkham earned his B.S. in Energy Systems Engineering, and Dales completed his B.S. in Economics.

At this year’s Mountain West Conference Championship in Tucson, Ariz., Dales and Coe-Kirkham were the highest finishers for the Cowboys as they both tied for 13th place in the field of 55 collegiate golfers.

The duo led Wyoming to a fifth-place team finish in the 11-team field -- its highest finish in school history at the MW Championship. Their performances also helped UW earn a bid to the Inaugural GOLFWEEK/National Golf Invitational (NGI) that was played in Maricopa, Ariz., May 19-21. Wyoming placed second in a field of 13 top ranked men’s golf programs at the GOLFWEEK/NGI. Coe-Kirkham finished 18th, and Dales placed 21st in the NGI, which featured 65 individual golfers.

Coe-Kirkham concluded his career as a Cowboy this season having recorded 19 career Top 25 individual finishes and five Top-25 finishes for the 2022-23 season. His highest finish of the 2022-23 season was a seventh-place finish at the San Diego Classic.

Dales, who was only a junior this season and has athletic eligibility remaining, has recorded 11 career Top-25 finishes, including five this season.

Dales highest finish of the 2022-23 season was a sixth-place showing at the Wyoming Cowboy Classic. He recently won the U.S. Open Local Qualifier in Westminster, Colo., earning him a spot in the U.S. Open Final Qualifying Tournament at the Springfield Country Club in Springfield, Ohio., on Monday, June 5.

Coming out of the Springfield Final Qualifying Tournament, Dales was unable to qualify for the 123rd U.S. Open that was played on the Los Angeles Country Club in Los Angeles, Calif., on June 15-18.

Criteria for Selection to Academic All-America Teams

To be nominated, a student-athlete must be a starter or important reserve with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average (on a 4.0 scale) at his/her current institution. The cumulative grade-point average may NOT be rounded up to 3.50.

Nominated athletes must have participated in at least 50 percent of the team’s games at the position listed on the nomination form (where applicable).

No student-athlete is eligible until he/she has completed one full calendar year at his/her current institution and is at least a sophomore academically and athletically.

Those individuals who earn CSC Academic All-District honors then move on to the national ballot for Academic All-America honors, which is then voted on by the College Sport Communicators (CSC) membership.