LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. -- In exclusive voting by the head coaches of the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), the league office announces the 2017 Women's Golf postseason award winners.
Centenary College's Jessica Varner was named the Golfer of the year, while Southwestern University's Leilani McDaniel was chosen as the Freshman of the Year. Trinity University Head Coach Carla Spenkoch earned Coach of the Year honors.
Varner, a sophomore from Baton Rouge, La., finished 30th in the nation with a round average of 78.38 (+663), while ranking 29th in Division III with 31 birdies and 24th in par-5 scoring (5.10). Varner also won medalist honors at both the Al Jones Memorial and SCAC Championships and earned First Team All-SCAC honors. Varner won the first tournament for the Ladies in 5 years, and also became the first Centenary golf conference medalist since Hal Sutton in 1979 and 1980. For the season, she finished top-10 in 6-of-7 tournaments played, including four top-4 finishes.
Varner received three of the possible five votes, while Trinity University's Shelby Devore collected the other two.
McDaniel, a freshman from Austin, Texas, was a Second Team All-SCAC finisher at the 2017 conference tournament, placing eighth with a 36-hole score of 168 (83-85). For the season, she recorded a scoring average of 80.94, while posting four top-5 finishes. Her best finish in the spring came at the Schreiner Spring Shootout, where she took second among a field of 43 golfers.
Spenkoch claims Coach of the year honors for the second year in a row after leading the Tigers to another SCAC Women's Golf championship. Trinity posted a two round score of 328 (+40) for the event, finishing eight shots ahead of second-place Schreiner University.
