ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Wingate's Amely Bochaton and Luca Poppe have been named the 2025-26 South Atlantic Conference Female and Male Athletes of the Year, the league announced today. The Male and Female Athlete of the Year awards are selected by a vote of the league's athletic directors.

Bochaton, a sophomore from Evian Les Bains, France put together one of the most dominant seasons in NCAA Division II women's golf history.

She repeated as the WGCA National Player of the Year and entered the national championships as the No. 1 ranked player in Division II for the second straight season. Bochaton captured the NCAA Division II individual national championship by an impressive 13 strokes after rounds of 68, 67 and 68, leading Wingate to the NCAA Division II National Stroke Play Championship by 21 shots. The Bulldogs also won the South Atlantic Conference Championship and NCAA Southeast Regional title before advancing to the national semifinals for the first time in program history.
Bochaton shattered her own Wingate and SAC single-season scoring record with a 70.7 stroke average (69.1 adjusted average). She finished at par or better in 31 of her 41 rounds while recording two rounds of 66, four rounds of 67, five rounds of 68 and six rounds of 69.

She won seven of her 13 tournaments during the 2025-26 campaign while finishing in the top four in every event. In addition to claiming the SAC individual championship, she won both of her match play contests to help Wingate capture the conference title. She also earned victories in both the national quarterfinals and semifinals during match play.

Bochaton was one of just 11 finalists for the NCAA Division II Honda Athlete of the Year Award for the second consecutive season. She now owns 13 individual tournament victories in just 26 collegiate events, while recording 22 top-five finishes and 25 top-10 finishes during her remarkable career.

Poppe, a senior from Zwolle, Netherlands, put together an extraordinary year across cross country and track & field, winning three NCAA Division II national championships while helping Wingate capture the NCAA Division II Men's Cross Country National Championship.

Poppe claimed his first individual national title by winning the 5,000 meters at the NCAA Division II Indoor Track & Field Championships in 14:07.41. The following evening, he added another championship in the 3,000 meters with a winning time of 7:57.14. He completed his historic season by capturing the outdoor national championship in the 5,000 meters with a time of 14:06.27.
During the cross country season, Poppe earned First Team All-America honors with a 15th-place finish at the NCAA Championships, helping lead the Bulldogs to their second national title in three years. He collected four First Team All-America honors during the 2025-26 academic year and was named both the South Atlantic Conference and USTFCCCA Southeast Region Indoor Track Athlete of the Year.

Poppe also helped Wingate's distance medley relay squad establish a new NCAA Division II all-time record with a time of 9:29.69 at the Battle for Boston. The Bulldogs claimed South Atlantic Conference championships in cross country, indoor track & field and outdoor track & field, while finishing third nationally at the NCAA Indoor Championships and 10th at the NCAA Outdoor Championships.