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Northwestern Sweeps 2015 Big Ten Women's Golf Awards
Northwestern’s
Emily Fletcher is the Big Ten Coach of the Year for the third time in
five seasons, Hannah Kim is the Player and Freshman of the Year and
five Wildcats earned All-Big Ten distinction, the Conference announced
on Tuesday. The five All-Big Ten honors for Northwestern are a program
record, eclipsing the four earned last season. Over the last three
seasons the team has piled up 11 All-Big Ten awards.
In
addition to sweeping the three major Conference awards, Kim, junior
Suchaya Tangkamolprasert and sophomore Kacie Komoto earned First Team
All-Big Ten recognition, while senior Hana Lee and junior Kaitlin Park
were named to the Second Team. Komoto was selected as the squad’s
Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Fletcher has guided Northwestern to
six consecutive NCAA Regionals, and back-to-back NCAA Championships in
2013 and 2014. She earned her first Big Ten Coach of the Year honor in
2011, the first in Wildcats history, and added a second in 2013 while
leading the ‘Cats to their first Big Ten Championship. This season she
piloted Northwestern to three tournament victories, including the
second Big Ten title in three years, and what is currently the best
team stroke average in program history (293.07).
Kim burst onto
the collegiate scene in her rookie campaign en route to becoming the
first Big Ten Player of the Year in school history, and the third Big
Ten Freshman of the Year from Northwestern. The Chula Vista, Calif.,
native leads the ‘Cats in scoring average (73.39, currently a program
record), rounds played at par-or-better (12), Top-3 finishes (3),
Top-10 finishes (5) and Top-20 results (7) this year.
This
season marks the first First Team All-Big Ten recognition for junior
Suchaya Tangkamolprasert and sophomore Kacie Komoto. Tangkamolprasert,
from Bangkok, Thailand, ranks second on the squad in scoring and picked
up her fourth Top-10 result of the season last weekend at the Big Ten
Championships, finishing ninth. A native of Honolulu, Hawaii, Komoto
earned Second Team All-Big Ten laurels last season as a freshman, and
currently ranks third on the team in scoring average and shares second
with four Top-20 finishes this year.
Senior Hana Lee and junior
Kaitlin Park are the third and fourth Wildcats in program history to
earn three All-Big Ten honors in a career, and the first since
Elizabeth Burden in 2003. Both were named First Team All-Big Ten in
2013 and 2014.
Komoto 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. 15 Wildcats open pursuit of
their third straight appearance in the NCAA Championships at the
Raleigh Regional from May 7-9, the program’s sixth consecutive NCAA bid.
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