Lamar’s Wenny Chang Named Women’s Golfer of the Year
Southland Conference
FRISCO, Texas – Lamar junior Wenny Chang was named the 2015-16 Southland Conference Women's Golfer of the Year after a vote of the league's head coaches and sports information directors, the league office announced Thursday in conjunction with the release of the all-conference teams.
Chang is the third women’s golfer to repeat as golfer of the year in conference history and the first since Central Arkansas’ Nicole Forshner took the honors in 2008 and 2009. A native of Hsinchu, Taiwan, Chang is making her third straight all-conference first team after taking medalist honors at the Southland Conference Championship by seven strokes. Chang averaged a score of 74.39 in 28 rounds of play. Chang finished in the top 10 seven times, including finishing first in her last three tournaments. She was the only golfer to record par or better in all three rounds of the conference championship with a three-round total of 2-under par 214 (72-70-72). Chang has fired eight rounds of even par or lower with a low round of 67 on the season.
Other postseason awards went to Central Arkansas’ Emma Svensson, who was named freshman of the year, Sam Houston State’s Heather Shake, the league’s newcomer of the year and Lamar coach Jessica Steward, who was selected as the conference’s coach of the year.
Svensson is the second UCA golfer to be named freshman of the year, joining teammate Fernanda Lira who took the honor last season. The Halmstad, Sweden, product led the conference with a 73.69 stroke average in 29 rounds. Svennson paced the Bears in eight tournaments on the year and posted seven top-10 finishes with a win at the Little Rock Golf Classic, Nov. 1-2. Svensson finished sixth in the conference championship, the top freshman finisher in the field.
Shake is the fourth Sam Houston golfer to be named the league’s top newcomer, joining Alisa White (2014), Meghann Stevens (2010) and Stephanie Page (2007). Shake averaged 76.24 strokes in 33 rounds and posted one win at the Bob Hurley ORU Shootout, Sept. 28-29. The junior transfer from Pearland, Texas, posted five top-10 finishes, including a fourth-place showing at the conference tournament.
Steward won the conference’s coach of the year honor in her first year at the helm after leading the Cardinals to their fourth consecutive conference championship. Steward is the third different Lamar coach to earn the distinction and it is the fifth time a Cardinal coach has been tabbed with this honor.
Rounding out the first-team all-conference selections are Lamar senior Taylor Stockton, who finished third in the conference championship, and UCA’s Lira, who finished second in the championship.
Earning second-team all-conference are Sam Houston State senior Nicole Budnik, Houston Baptist freshmen Lexi Brooks and Kaity Cummings, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi senior Vanessa Johnson and Stephen F. Austin junior Jessie White.
Lamar, UCA, Sam Houston and HBU each have two all-conference selections while A&M-Corpus Christi and SFA have one honoree apiece. Two golfers made a return appearance on the all-conference teams for the third time with Change and Stockton while Lira, Budnik, Johnson and White are being recognized for the second time in their career.
2015-16 All-Southland Conference Women’s Golf Teams
| First Team |
|
|
|
|
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|
| Name |
University |
Class |
Avg. (Rds.) |
Low |
Wins |
Top 10 |
Hometown |
| Wenny Chang3 |
Lamar |
Jr. |
74.39 (28) |
67 |
4 |
7 |
Hsinchu, Taiwan |
| Emma Svensson |
Central Arkansas |
Fr. |
73.69 (29) |
67 |
1 |
7 |
Halmstad, Sweden |
| Taylor Stockton3 |
Lamar |
Sr. |
75.55 (29) |
70 |
1 |
7 |
Clear Lake, Texas |
| Fernanda Lira2 |
Central Arkansas |
So. |
75.10 (30) |
70 |
0 |
4 |
Mexico City, Mexico |
| Heather Shake |
Sam Houston State |
Jr. |
76.24 (33) |
67 |
1 |
5 |
Pearland, Texas |
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Second Team |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Name |
University |
Class |
Avg. (Rds.) |
Low |
Wins |
Top 10 |
Hometown |
| Nicole Budnik2 |
Sam Houston State |
Sr. |
75.88 (33) |
68 |
1 |
3 |
The Woodlands, Texas |
| Lexi Brooks |
Houston Baptist |
Fr. |
75.83 (24) |
67 |
0 |
5 |
Kingwood, Texas |
| Kaity Cummings |
Houston Baptist |
Fr. |
75.97 (33) |
70 |
0 |
4 |
Waco, Texas |
| Vanessa Johnson2 |
A&M-Corpus Christi |
Sr. |
76.93 (28) |
72 |
0 |
2 |
Corpus Christi, Texas |
| Jessie White2 |
Stephen F. Austin |
Jr. |
77.47 (32) |
69 |
0 |
4 |
Mansfield, Texas |
Honorable Mention: Giorgia Carletti, Houston Baptist; Brenda Gonzalez, Central Arkansas; Olivia Le Roux, Lamar.
2Two-Time All-Conference
3Three-Time All-Conference
Golfer of the Year: Wenny Chang, Lamar
Freshman of the Year: Emma Svensson, Central Arkansas
Newcomer of the Year: Heather Shake, Sam Houston State
Coach of the Year: Jessica Steward, Lamar