Northwestern University Athletics
#B1GCats Sweep Big Ten Women's Golf Awards For Second Straight Year
4/26/2016 12:59:00 PM | Women's Golf
EVANSTON, Ill. – For the second consecutive year Northwestern has swept the Big Ten Women's Golf Awards, the Conference announced on Tuesday. Sophomore Hannah Kim was honored as the 2016 Player of the Year for the second straight campaign, rookie Stephanie Lau was selected as the Freshman of the Year, and Emily Fletcher is the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the fourth time in the last six seasons.
Four Wildcats (Kim, Lau, Sarah Cho, Kacie Komoto) received First Team All-Big Ten honors, making up half of the eight-member First Team, and a fifth (Janet Mao) was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. Northwestern is the first program to place four golfers on the All-Big Ten First team since Purdue in 2009.
The five All-Big Ten honors equal the 'Cats program record established in 2015, while the four First Team awards are a new Wildcats record. Over the last four seasons Northwestern has piled up 16 total All-Big Ten awards.
Kim is the first back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year in program history, and the Conference's first repeat winner since 2009. The Chula Vista, California, native, leads Northwestern in scoring (71.12), rounds at par-or-better (16), Top-10 finishes (5) and Top-20 finishes (9) this season. Kim won the 2016 Hurricane Invite with a program-record 199, eclipsing the previous Wildcats mark by seven strokes. This weekend she picked up her second consecutive Top-10 finish at the Big Ten Championships. She is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation by Golfstat and is the first Northwestern golfer to earn First Team All-Big Ten honors as both a freshman and a sophomore.
Lau was Northwestern's top finisher at the 2016 Big Ten Championships, earning a share of fourth-place (-5) and securing the title for the Wildcats with a must-have, 10-foot par putt on No. 18 on Sunday. She ranks second on the team, and in the Conference, in scoring average (71.76), has recorded more rounds in the 60's this season than any Wildcats golfer (6), and shares the team lead for rounds played at par-or-better (16).
The Fullerton, California, native established the school 54-hole scoring record (since broken) en route to a season-best third-place finish at the Mason Rudolph Invitational in the fall. She is currently ranked as the No. 26 golfer in the nation according to Golfstat.
Northwestern has now captured three of the last four Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, beginning with Kaitlin Park in 2013 and including Hannah Kim last season.
Fletcher has now guided Northwestern to three Big Ten Championships in the last four years and seven consecutive NCAA Regionals appearances. She earned her first Big Ten Coach of the Year honor in 2011, the first in Wildcats history, added a second in 2013 while leading the `Cats to their first Big Ten Championship, and a third last season when NU captured its second Conference crown.
This season she piloted Northwestern to three tournament victories, including the third Big Ten title in four years, and what is currently the best team stroke average in program history (287.6) by nearly a seven-stroke margin over last year's record-setting results.
Junior Kacie Komoto is the fifth Wildcats golfer in program history to earn three All-Big Ten honors in her career. She earned Second Team recognition as a freshman, and First Team laurels last season as a sophomore. Sophomore Sarah Cho, the 2015 Big Ten Individual Champion, earned her first All-Big Ten nod this year, while freshman Janet Mao did the same.
Senior Suchaya Tangkamolprasert was selected as the Wildcats Sportsmanship Award recipient, an honor given one student-athlete from each Big Ten institution to have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, these honorees must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
The No. 8 Wildcats open pursuit of their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Championships as the No. 2 seed at the Shoal Creek (Ala.) NCAA Regional from May 5-7, the program's seventh consecutive NCAA bid.
Big Ten Coach of the Year: Emily Fletcher, Northwestern
Big Ten Player of the Year: Hannah Kim, Northwestern
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Stephanie Lau, Northwestern
2016 First Team All-Big Ten
Sarah Cho, Northwestern
Hannah Kim, Northwestern
Kacie Komoto, Northwestern
Stephanie Lau, Northwestern
Sarah Burnham, Michigan State
Katja Pogacar, Ohio State
Jessica Porvasnik, Ohio State
August Kim, Purdue
2016 Second Team All-Big Ten
Janet Mao, Northwestern
Bing Singhsumalee, Illinois
Camille Chevalier, Indiana
Amy Ihm, Iowa
Grace Choi, Michigan
Katie Sharp, Michigan State
Anna Appert Lund, Purdue
Brooke Ferrell, Wisconsin
Four Wildcats (Kim, Lau, Sarah Cho, Kacie Komoto) received First Team All-Big Ten honors, making up half of the eight-member First Team, and a fifth (Janet Mao) was named to the All-Big Ten Second Team. Northwestern is the first program to place four golfers on the All-Big Ten First team since Purdue in 2009.
The five All-Big Ten honors equal the 'Cats program record established in 2015, while the four First Team awards are a new Wildcats record. Over the last four seasons Northwestern has piled up 16 total All-Big Ten awards.
Kim is the first back-to-back Big Ten Player of the Year in program history, and the Conference's first repeat winner since 2009. The Chula Vista, California, native, leads Northwestern in scoring (71.12), rounds at par-or-better (16), Top-10 finishes (5) and Top-20 finishes (9) this season. Kim won the 2016 Hurricane Invite with a program-record 199, eclipsing the previous Wildcats mark by seven strokes. This weekend she picked up her second consecutive Top-10 finish at the Big Ten Championships. She is currently ranked No. 5 in the nation by Golfstat and is the first Northwestern golfer to earn First Team All-Big Ten honors as both a freshman and a sophomore.
Lau was Northwestern's top finisher at the 2016 Big Ten Championships, earning a share of fourth-place (-5) and securing the title for the Wildcats with a must-have, 10-foot par putt on No. 18 on Sunday. She ranks second on the team, and in the Conference, in scoring average (71.76), has recorded more rounds in the 60's this season than any Wildcats golfer (6), and shares the team lead for rounds played at par-or-better (16).
The Fullerton, California, native established the school 54-hole scoring record (since broken) en route to a season-best third-place finish at the Mason Rudolph Invitational in the fall. She is currently ranked as the No. 26 golfer in the nation according to Golfstat.
Northwestern has now captured three of the last four Big Ten Freshman of the Year honors, beginning with Kaitlin Park in 2013 and including Hannah Kim last season.
Fletcher has now guided Northwestern to three Big Ten Championships in the last four years and seven consecutive NCAA Regionals appearances. She earned her first Big Ten Coach of the Year honor in 2011, the first in Wildcats history, added a second in 2013 while leading the `Cats to their first Big Ten Championship, and a third last season when NU captured its second Conference crown.
This season she piloted Northwestern to three tournament victories, including the third Big Ten title in four years, and what is currently the best team stroke average in program history (287.6) by nearly a seven-stroke margin over last year's record-setting results.
Junior Kacie Komoto is the fifth Wildcats golfer in program history to earn three All-Big Ten honors in her career. She earned Second Team recognition as a freshman, and First Team laurels last season as a sophomore. Sophomore Sarah Cho, the 2015 Big Ten Individual Champion, earned her first All-Big Ten nod this year, while freshman Janet Mao did the same.
Senior Suchaya Tangkamolprasert was selected as the Wildcats Sportsmanship Award recipient, an honor given one student-athlete from each Big Ten institution to have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. In addition, these honorees must be in good academic standing and must have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.
The No. 8 Wildcats open pursuit of their fourth straight appearance in the NCAA Championships as the No. 2 seed at the Shoal Creek (Ala.) NCAA Regional from May 5-7, the program's seventh consecutive NCAA bid.
Big Ten Coach of the Year: Emily Fletcher, Northwestern
Big Ten Player of the Year: Hannah Kim, Northwestern
Big Ten Freshman of the Year: Stephanie Lau, Northwestern
2016 First Team All-Big Ten
Sarah Cho, Northwestern
Hannah Kim, Northwestern
Kacie Komoto, Northwestern
Stephanie Lau, Northwestern
Sarah Burnham, Michigan State
Katja Pogacar, Ohio State
Jessica Porvasnik, Ohio State
August Kim, Purdue
2016 Second Team All-Big Ten
Janet Mao, Northwestern
Bing Singhsumalee, Illinois
Camille Chevalier, Indiana
Amy Ihm, Iowa
Grace Choi, Michigan
Katie Sharp, Michigan State
Anna Appert Lund, Purdue
Brooke Ferrell, Wisconsin
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