We Are Knox...

It would be difficult to script a better season-ending performance for
a senior student-athlete-finishing with a personal best effort, earning
all-conference honors, and doing it in front of family and friends.
But that's exactly what happened for Knox College senior women's
golfer Allyson Cooper.

Cooper fired an 83 in the third and final round of the 2006 Midwest Conference Women's Golf Championship in October 2006 to finish fifth with a 264 (91-90-83) in the three-day, 54-hole event. The 83 was Cooper's best round at Galesburg's Soangetaha Country Club, bettering the 85s she had fired a handful of times before.

It was a fitting end to the New Windsor, Illinois, native's collegiate career. As a freshman in 2003, she fired a 194 to finish 17th overall. She earned all-conference honors with a third-place finish as a sophomore. After missing the 2005 conference meet to attend a family wedding, Cooper added another top-five conference finish this year, and did it at Soangetaha with her family and friends in attendance.

"I had mixed emotions," says Cooper. "It was a great way to end the season, but the last four years have gone by so quickly. I will definitely miss playing collegiate golf."

She played her final round alongside four-time conference champion and Illinois College senior Carey Cappel. And when Cooper buried her final putt on the 18th hole, along with a round of 83 came an outpouring of emotion.

"Carey and I have played a lot together over the years," says Cooper. "During the final round, we talked about how this was our last competitive round. I kept telling myself, ‘I'm fine, I'm fine. It's not that big of a deal. I have the spring season yet.' But when that putt dropped on 18, Carey was sobbing, and I was crying. We couldn't help it. We were both emotional, but it was a great way to end things."

With two tournaments remaining in the spring, Cooper's collegiate golfing career may be ending, but the elementary education major is ready to begin a new chapter in her life.

This winter, with the golf courses closed, Cooper spent her time as a student teacher in a third-grade classroom at Steele Elementary School in Galesburg. It was the first step in a teaching and potential coaching career.

"It has crossed my mind a few times," says Cooper of the possibility of coaching golf at the high school level. "I wouldn't do it right away, but I do think it is something I would like to consider in the future. If the opportunity comes along, I think I'd do it."

Coaching or not, don't think for a moment that Cooper is putting her own clubs away for good.

"I'll enter some summer tournaments and I play with some ladies in Galesburg who are excellent golfers. The great thing about golf is that it's a lifelong sport. I plan on spending as much time on the links as I can."