Eagles golf team receives national top-25 award

CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – Eastern Washington University’s womens golf team finished tied for 15th out of all Division I institutions to earn a Womens Golf Coaches Association all-Scholar Team GPA award. The award was announced Monday, July 20.

The Eagles tied Rutgers University with a team GPA of 3.832, and are the only Big Sky Conference school to make the list, according to a July 20 news release. It’s Eastern’s first-ever All-Scholar award, going back to 2005 when the award was first presented.

“This is a great honor. The dedication to our team’s academics is outstanding,” head coach Brenda Howe said in a statement. “The past few years, we’ve fallen just outside the recognized 25 teams, so it’s great to see that their hard work on and off the course is being recognized at the national level.”

The WGCA recognized the top-25 teams, with New Mexico taking the top spot with a 3.965 GPA. According to the association’s website, the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay was second with a 3.958 while California Baptist University was third with a 3.950 GPA.

Rounding out the top-10 in order was Quinnipiac University, University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Florida Atlantic University, Drake University, University of Illinois and the University of Denver.

Seattle University also made the top-25, tying for 25th with Grand Canyon University and Penn State University.

Last month EWU players Madalyn Ardueser, Morgan Baum, Alexa Clark, Jaelin Ishikawa and Megan Ohland earned individual WGCA All-American Scholar Honors after boasting a GPA of at least 3.5 and competing in 50 percent of the team’s competitions. The Eagles had the most representatives out of all the Big Sky schools among 1,401 total collegiate golfers that were recognized.

Athletically, Eastern’s 2019-20 season was cut short due to COVID-19, but the Eagles were still able to find success, finishing in the top-ten as a team in every tournament. EWU set a new program record for lowest three-round total of 888 strokes at the Battle at Old Works where Ardueser set the individual program record with a 210 (-6). Ardueser would win that competition and two more in 2019-20 and went on to earn All-Big Sky First Team Honors while Clark earned an Honorable Mention nod.