Double-major in math records 3.96 GPA — and stars for Big 12 champion golf team

When the Baylor women’s golf team won its first Big 12 Championship last spring, it was then-junior Laura Lonardi who paced the Bears. The native of Verona, Italy, recorded the best score on the team in the championship round — a four-under-par 212 in the 54-hole tournament. But while Lonardi’s story goes far beyond numbers, numbers are actually a big part of her story.

Lonardi is one of many Baylor student-athletes who break the traditional mold of what many might think of when they think of a student-athlete. She’s a double major in applied mathematics and statistics who hopes to pursue a graduate degree in math after she graduates from Baylor. This summer, she interned in the risk management and analysis department of an Italian bank — all while practicing with the Italian national team.

Some of the classes on her schedule include “Introduction to Analysis,” “Numerical Methods” and “Mathematical Statistics” — a tough load for anyone, much less someone who’s also juggling the time commitment of a varsity sport.

She developed both her love of golf and math as a child in Verona, and despite being already enrolled in an Italian university, she accepted the challenge of moving to the United States when women’s golf head coach Jay Goble recruited her to Baylor. For her stellar play on the course and stellar work in the classroom, Lonardi was named the Big 12 Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year last spring, one of three Bears to earn an award in their sport. Her 3.96 GPA while holding down two majors in the Baylor Department of Mathematics is another statistic that stands out.

This spring, Lonardi and her teammates will try to match and top their accomplishments from last season — which concluded as national runners-up at the NCAA Championships — while keeping focused on why they’re here at Baylor. Like their counterparts in all Baylor sports, they’ll be striving for excellence on the field/court/course and in the classroom, proving to Baylor Nation on a daily basis why the “student” portion of the term “student-athlete” comes first.

Sic ’em, Laura Lonardi!