INDIANAPOLIS – University of Indianapolis freshman Katharina Keilich has been named the Great Lakes Valley Conference Women's Golf Player of the Year and Freshman of the Year, it was announced by the Conference office on Tuesday. Her head coach Brent Nicoson was chosen by his peers as GLVC Coach of the Year, while five individuals completed the 10-member All-Conference team.
Keilich becomes the first Greyhound player to earn both postseason accolades in the same year and the fourth women’s golfer to do so in league history. The honors are well deserved, as she was the 2016 GLVC Women’s Golf Championship co-medalist with a 73-74-74—221 and also earned three other individual wins or co-medals throughout the season, including at the Division I Butler Invitational, DI IPFW Spring Classic and DI Ball State Triangular. Prior to beginning competition at last week's NCAA East Super Regional, Keilich was selected by the 14 league coaches based on her 75.8 stroke average over 28 rounds and 11 events that included the Conference championship. Among those events, she compiled five top-5 finishes, seven top-10 performances, and eight top-20 efforts. The Wetzlar, Germany, native carries a national ranking of 27 and is third in the region. She is the seventh Hound to earn a GLVC Freshman of the Year nod and follows in the footsteps of teammate Annika Haynes, who was the 2015 honoree; and she becomes the sixth GLVC Player of the Year for UIndy, also making this the eighth time a Hound was selected. This is additionally the fourth major laurel in a row for UIndy as Jenny Konop was the back-to-back winner in 2013 and 2014 and teammate Brooke Beagle was the 2015 choice.
Nicoson earns his fourth GLVC Coach of the Year nod after leading his squad to a record fifth-straight league championship and 10th overall, collecting the lion’s share of votes from his 13 head-coaching peers. He also won three-straight seasons from 2012-14. Unlike last season’s come-from-behind win in the Conference meet, his 2016 Hounds led wire-to-wire for the victory, shooting a 302-303-294—899. The 294 third-round card and 899 total score were both record performances, besting previous UIndy teams from 2012 and 2015, respectively. The fifth-year mentor also guided Keilich and Kylie Raines to co-medalist honors at this year’s league Championship and, along with those standouts, supported two others to All-GLVC recognition in Beegle and Paxton DeHaven.
Along with Keilich, Raines and DeHaven, Lewis University’s Rachel Sweeney and William Jewell College’s Alex Trask made the All-GLVC team by way of their top-5 finish at the Conference championship. All-GLVC merits also went to Beegle, a pair from the University of Missouri-St. Louis in Alexa Capesius and Stefaniya Ivanova, as well as Truman State University’s Nicolle Barmettler and University of Southern Indiana’s Anastasia Carter, based on a vote by the 14 league coaches.
The league also recognized 14 GLVC James R. Spalding Sportsmanship Award honorees. The student-athletes chosen are individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior. These individuals must also be in good academic standing and have demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting. The honorees are now eligible to become one of their school’s two Spalding Sportsmanship Award winners, which will be announced in May.
A complete list of All-GLVC performers and major postseason award winners can be found below.
2016 ALL-GLVC WOMEN’S GOLF POSTSEASON AWARDS
Brooke Beegle, Sr., UINDY
Paxton DeHaven, So., UINDY
Katharina Keilich, Fr., UINDY
Kylie Raines, So., UINDY
Rachel Sweeney, Jr., LEWIS
Alexa Capesius, So., UMSL
Stefaniya Ivanova, So., UMSL
Anastasia Carter, Sr., USI
Nicolle Barmettler, So., TSU
Alex Trask, So., WJC
2016 GLVC Player of the Year: Katharina Keilich, Fr., Indianapolis
2016 GLVC Freshman of the Year: Katharina Keilich, Fr., Indianapolis
2016 GLVC Coach of the Year: Brent Nicoson, Indianapolis
2016 JAMES R. SPALDING SPORTSMANSHIP NOMINEES
Ali Cheesman, BU
Ellen Mitchell, DU
Rebbecca Ramirez, UIS
Molly Ward, UINDY
Jordan Nichols, LEWIS
Nikka Bazzetta, MU
Kaylyn Fuhrhop, MCK
Alexa Capesius, UMSL
Cortni Hicks, QU
Colleen Garvey, RU
Stephanie Drake, SJC
Anastasia Carter, USI
Kim Barmettler, TSU
Payton Meeks, WJC