Sylvania's Beat in semifinals at U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur
9/22/2011VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - Helene Beat, winner of four straight Toledo Women's District Golf Association major championships, has taken her act to the national stage this week and is faring equally well.
Beat, 29, a reinstated amateur playing in her first USGA championship, has reached the semifinal round of the U.S. Women's Mid-Amateur at Bayville Golf Club.
The Sylvania resident went to the wire and edged Thuhashini Selvaratnam of Sri Lanka 1-up in yesterday's quarterfinal round.
This morning, Beat will face three-time Mid-Amateur champion Ellen Port, 49, of St. Louis. The other semifinal pits Tara Joy-Connelly of Pembroke, Mass., against Martha Leach of Hebron, Ky. The two winners will meet in the championship match this afternoon at 12:30.
Beat is a former teaching professional at Inverness Club whose amateur status was reinstated early last year. She is an investment advisor and a partner in the Fadel-Brown Group.
Beat carded rounds of 81-75 in medal play to qualify for match-play action.
Since opening match play, Beat defeated Alexandra Frazier of Conshohocken, Pa., 5 and 4; defending champion Meghan Stasi of Oakland Park, Fla., 2 and 1, and Sharon Park of Irvine, Calif., 2 and 1, to reach yesterday's quarterfinals.
Beat trailed late in yesterday before Selvaratnam double bogeyed the 17th hole to square the match. Beat then won with a par 5 on the final hole.
Colleges
The University of Akron yesterday was named the winner of the annual Mid-American Conference Institutional Academic Achievement Award.
For the 2010-11 school year, Akron posted an overall athletic grade point average of 3.14.
Finishing second was the University of Toledo with a 3.13 cumulative GPA, and third was Bowling Green State University with a 3.10 GPA.
The honor is presented annually to the MAC institution that achieves the highest overall institutional GPA for student-athletes competing in school-sponsored sports for that particular academic year.