BROKEN ARROW, Okla. – On the eve of the 2024 Great American Conference Women’s Golf Championships, the league held its annual awards banquet. Henderson State’s Allie Bianchi won Player of the Year; Harding’s Sydney Kincade earned Freshman of the Year and Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Brad Fleetwood received Coach of the Year. Southern Arkansas’ Taylor Rich and Kelsey Saveall each received the Elite Scholar Athlete Award - Presented by Conway Regional Health System.
2024 ALL-GREAT AMERICAN CONFERENCE GOLF TEAMS
Bianchi finished the regular season as the top-ranked golfer in the Central Region. She won three events and tallied eight-consecutive top-10 showings. She took home the medalist honor in consecutive fall starts - the Central Region Preview and the Battle for the Belt - before adding a win at the Hardscrabble Invitational in March. She joined former teammate Gracen Blount as the only Reddies voted Women’s Player of the Year.
Kincade joined former Lady Bison Kiera Smith as the only two in program history named GAC Freshman of the Year. She finished inside the top 25 in all four of her spring events. A 12th-place finish at the Arkansas Collegiate represented her best result of the season.
Fleetwood scored the second Coach of the Year honor of his career. He won the GAC’s men’s award in 2016. The Bulldogs enter the GAC Championships ranked No. 25 in the nation and as the No. 3 team in the Central Region. They won team titles at the NSU Women’s Classic and the Diffie Ford Lincoln Invitational.
A tandem from Henderson State - Jinna Boonbumroongsuk and Felisa Sajulga - paired with a duo from Southwestern Oklahoma State - Megan Brown and Drew Dodgion - to join Bianchi on the All-GAC First Team. Like Bianchi, Boonbumroongsuk made the team by unanimous consent. She closed the season as the region’s second-ranked women’s golfer after posting a win and seven top-10s. She won in the Reddies’ final tuneup to the GAC Championships, the Arkansas Tech Spring Regional Invitational, by eight strokes. Sajulga collected five top-10s. Brown strung together four-straight top 10s and added a runner-up finish at her final tournament of the season. Dodgion notched a pair of runner-up results as part of four top-5 finishes.
The All-GAC Second Team featured Arkansas-Monticello’s Chiara Sturaro, Arkansas Tech’s Ellen Spigner, Oklahoma Baptist’s Morgan Becker, Henderson State’s Daphney Tilton and SWOSU’s Freya Sala.
The All-GAC Honorable Mention Team consisted of a trio from Harding - Alicia Martinez, Pilar Martinez and Brenda Sanchez - plus Arkansas Tech’s Claire Orcutt and Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Rebecca Lau.
A total of nine student-athletes earned the Distinguished Scholar Athlete award - Presented by Conway Regional Health System in Bianchi, Boonbumroongsuk, Dodgion, Alicia Martinez, Sanchez, Harding’s Kodie Winnings, Oklahoma Baptist’s Rylie Spaulding, Southern Nazarene’s Sara Armstrong and Southwestern Oklahoma State’s Ashlyn Acosta