RUSSELLVILLE, Ark. – The Great American Conference announced its annual all-conference honors and superlative awards for women's golf on Monday evening after the completion of the opening round of the championship tournament.
OFFICAL GAC RELEASE
In that unveiling,
Ellen Spigner and head coach
Lowell Stephens received top individual honors as this year's Player of the Year and Coach of the Year for the conference. Spigner was also a unanimous First Team All-GAC selection. She was joined on the first team by
Jaylee Castro while
Averi Mickelson was lauded second team.
The player of the year award for Spigner is a culmination of a standout four-year career as a Golden Sun and adds her to a list of four other former Golden Suns to be named the GAC Player of the Year and is the first for Tech since 2021. In being named First Team All-GAC, Spigner also becomes the fifth women's golfer in Tech history to be four-time all-conference.
Ranked No. 18 in all of Division II women's golf this year, Spigner has won three tournaments and is carrying a 73.4 stroke average into the GAC Championship Tournament. She has also already recorded 10 rounds under par, giving her the single-season record at Tech. For her career to this point, Spigner has had 24 rounds under par, tying her for the career record.
Stephens is amid his second season as the head women's golf coach at Tech and becomes the third different conference coach of the year for the Golden Suns and the first since 2021. This year, he received the nod by unanimous decision among his women's golf coaching peers within the GAC>
In his first season, Stephens guided the Golden Suns back to the regional tournament and later the national championship tournament after they placed third at regionals. It was the program's first appearance in the regionals as a team since 2022 and the first at the national tournament as a team since 2021.
This year, Stephens has the Golden Suns nationally-ranked No. 31 according to the latest Scoreboard powered by clippd rankings. Tech is also currently the No. 1-ranked team in the Central Region in both the latest NCAA region rankings and the Scoreboard powered by clippd rankings.
Castro and Mickelson are now two-time All-GAC golfers as they garnered the recognition last year. A year ago, Mickelson was a second team selection and repeated the honor this season. Castro was an honorable mention selection last season and this year took a big jump and is a first team honoree.
Castro is currently ranked the No. 104
th women's golfer in DII and is No. 8 in the region with a 74.9 stroke average. Mickelson ranks No. 206 nationally and is No. 21 in the region with a stroke average of 76.2.
In addition to their achievements on the course, all three also earned academic acclaim as all three qualified for inclusion on the GAC Academic Honor Roll.
