Lenoir-Rhyne's O'Connor and Wingate's McLaughlin Headline 2020 South Atlantic Conference Women's Golf Award Winners
ROCK HILL, S.C. (TheSAC.com) – Lenoir-Rhyne's Ainee O'Connor was voted the 2020 South Atlantic Conference Women's Golfer of the Year, while Wingate's Hailey McLaughlin was named the Conference's Freshman of the Year and Wingate's Erin Thorne was named the Coach of the Year, the SAC office announced today.
O'Connor, a senior from Kent, England, completed a SAC women's golf award trifecta with the Golfer of the Year award as she was also named the SAC Women's Golf Elite 20 winner and the SAC Women's Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She played in every Bears' event in 2019-20, placing first at the Battle of Hilton Head. She had six top-15 and four top-10 finishes during the season and never placed lower than 21st. Her outstanding play earned Women's Golf Coaches Association Honorable Mention All-American honors and she helped lead the Bears to a No. 20 national ranking. She finished the season with a 75.09 adjusted scoring average and was ranked No. 18 in the NCAA Division II South Region by Golfstat.
McLaughlin, a freshman from Markham, Ontario, Canada, led the SAC and was No. 15 in the NCAA Division II South Region with a 74.59 adjusted scoring average. She finished in the top-25 in all seven tournaments this season, including four top-10 finishes and a runner-up finish at the Spring Kickoff Intercollegiate. She carded a collegiate-best 71 (-1) at the Battle at Old South, and just six strokes separated her lowest round (71) and her highest round (77) of the season.
Thorne earns her third Coach of the Year accolade in the last four years after leading the Wingate women to a No. 10 WGCA Division II National Ranking. As a team, the Bulldogs had seven top-10 finishes including two tournament championships, two runner-up finishes, and a third place finish. Thorne coached three first team All-SAC selections and two All-Americans, McLaughlin and Mind Puangcharoen in 2020.
O'Connor and McLaughlin also earned first team All-SAC honors for their performances this season and they are joined on the first team by Lenior-Rhyne's Megan Robb and Wingate's Puangcharoen and Diana McDonald. Robb posted a 75.68 adjusted scoring average in 2020, while Puangcharoen shot an adjusted scoring average of 74.84, and McDonald turned in an adjusted scoring average of 75.84.
2020 SAC Women's Golf All-Conference
First Team
Hailey McLaughlin, Wingate
Mind Puangcharoen, Wingate
Ainee O'Connor, Lenoir-Rhyne
Megan Robb, Lenoir-Rhyne
Diana McDonald, Wingate
Second Team
Alicia Fajardo, Coker
Maeve Cummins, Carson-Newman
Jennifer Keim, Tusculum
Beatriz Espelosin, Lenoir-Rhyne
Kaley Barts, Catawba
Honorable Mention
Emma Charles, Anderson
Marie Luise Schrader, Wingate
Rachel Watts, Carson-Newman
Sam Fritzinger, Wingate
Victoria Hall, Anderson
Women's Golfer of the Year
Ainee O'Connor, Lenoir-Rhyne
Women's Golf Freshman of the Year
Hailey McLaughlin, Wingate
Women's Golf Coach of the Year
Erin Thorne, Wingate
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