ROCK HILL, S.C. – The Anderson University women's golf duo of freshman Emma Charles and sophomore Victoria Hall has earned Honorable Mention All-South Atlantic Conference honors, as announced by the league office, Wednesday morning.
Charles, a native of Hartsville, S.C., paced the Trojans with a 76.79 adjusted stroke average this year, while posting three top-20 finishes, including tying for third at the AU Invitational in her collegiate debut last September – marking her highest finish of the season. She fired a season-best 2-under-par 70 in the final round of Rollins College's Peggy Kirk Bell Memorial Invitational en route to tying for 13th place in arguably one of the toughest fields in the nation this year. She also shared 17th place at the Patsy Rendleman Invitational last fall.
Hall was second on the team with a 77.33 unadjusted stroke average this year, while finishing in the top-13 in three tournaments, including a fifth-place performance at last September's AU Invitational. The Moore, S.C., native finished in a tie for 12th after carding a season-low 71 in the second round of the St. Leo Invitational in mid-October and claimed 13th place at the Battle at Hilton Head in late February.
Lenoir-Rhyne's Ainee O'Connor was voted the SAC 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.
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 Divison 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 second consecutive Coach of the Year accolade 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, L-R
Megan Robb, L-R
Diana McDonald, Wingate
Second Team
Alicia Fajardo, Coker
Maeve Cummins, C-N
Jennifer Keim, Tusculum
Beatriz Espelosin, L-R
Kaley Barts, Catawba
Honorable Mention
Emma Charles, Anderson
Marie Schrader, Wingate
Rachel Watts, C-N
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
