LAFAYETTE – Lafayette Jeff sophomore Samantha Hatter, who earned all-state golf honors on Saturday, Sept. 29, after leading the Bronchos to an eighth place finish at the Indiana State Golf Championships at The Legends Golf Course in Franklin, is Lafayette/West Lafayette OurTown.com’s Student-Athlete of the Month.

Hatter was the Lafayette Sectional medalist and she tied for second in the Lafayette Regional at the Battle Ground Golf Course with defending state champion Kelly Grassel, of Chesterton. She finished tied for 19^th place in the state meet Saturday. The golf team won a regional championship for the first time since 2002 on Sept. 24.

In the classroom, Hatter ranks third in her class of 491 students and has a GPA of 4.3684. She plans to study veterinary medicine in college.

“Samantha, along with some of her teammates, worked extremely hard since the end of last season,” said her father and Lafayette Jeff golf coach John Hatter. “Beginning last November thru this past May, Samantha played in junior golf tournaments in Kentucky, Ohio and Florida. During the winter months (November thru March) she hit golf balls indoors into nets and worked on her golf swing with PGA Professional Roger Lundy.

“Samantha also played tennis for Lafayette Jeff this past spring to improve upon her overall agility, balance, footwork, and hand eye coordination. Her mother Trudi was on the road all summer taking Samantha to junior golf tournaments all over Indiana. Some people dream of success . . . which others, like Samantha, wake up and work hard at it.”

Her 2012 accomplishments include:

--Hoosier Crossroad Conference championship medalist (75)

--HCC All-Conference (2^nd consecutive year)

--City County medalist (79) (2^nd consecutive year)

--Sectional medalist (76) (2^nd consecutive year)

--Regional second medalist (80)

--Indiana all-state selection