Four UK Women’s Golfers Tabbed WGCA All-Americans
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. – While the Kentucky women’s golf team was breaking glass ceilings this season with its first NCAA Championship finals appearance since 1992, it was also taking care of business in the classroom.
Four Wildcats – senior Rikke Svejgård Nielsen, sophomores Jensen Castle and Marissa Wenzler, and freshman Laney Frye – were selected to the 2020-21 Women’s Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Team on Tuesday. It is the third straight year UK has placed at least four Wildcats on the WGCA All-American Scholar list, and UK has racked up 13 total honors over the last three seasons.
More than 1,400 women’s collegiate golfers across NCAA Divisions I, II and III were recognized with the honor. It marks the third straight year Svejgård Nielsen has been named a WGCA All-American Scholar and the second straight season for Castle and Wenzler.
All four Wildcats honored were a part of the group that qualified for UK’s first NCAA Championship finals berth in 29 years.
Among the requirements to be nominated a WGCA All-American Scholars, a student-athlete must have a minimum cumulative grade-point average of 3.50 for the entirety of her college career, be of high moral character, and played in 50% of the college’s regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the season nominated.
Kentucky posted a 3.679 grade-point average in the spring semester, among the highest marks at UK. All 10 Wildcats on the 2020-21 roster made the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll.
Svejgård Nielsen enjoyed a decorated senior season. She was named SEC Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year in April to become the third UK women’s golfer in school history to win the award and the first since 2009. Even with English as her second language, Svejgård Nielsen has excelled while majoring in agricultural and medical biotechnology with a 3.711 grade-point average. Picking up a minor in neuroscience recently, she is a three-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and has made the Dean’s List six times.
On the course, Svejgård Nielsen played her best golf down the stretch to ignite UK’s postseason run. She placed in the top 20 in three of the final five tournaments with 54-hole season lows in four straight events before the NCAA Championship finals.
Castle has a 3.605 cumulative GPA in her two-year UK career while getting off to one of the program’s all-time best starts. She posted the fifth-best single-season average in school history as a freshman and was a key piece of Kentucky’s historic 2020-21 season by providing 30 of her 33 scores to the team total. Last month she played in the U.S. Women’s Open and last week won the Carolinas Four-Ball Championship with Wake Forest’s Rachel Keuhn for the second straight season.
Castle is working on a degree in business management and made the SEC Academic Honor Roll this season for the first time.
Wenzler is a two-time SEC Academic Honor Roll member and has appeared on the Dean’s List in three semesters. Majoring in finance, Wenzler has a 3.758 GPA through her first two years in college.
A rising sophomore from Centerville, Ohio, Wenzler was UK’s second-best finisher at the national championship in Scottsdale, Arizona. She played in 10 tournaments in 2020-21
Frye enjoyed a sensational freshman season on and off the course. In the classroom, she posted a perfect 4.0 GPA while exploring what major she will choose to pursue. Frye made the SEC Academic First-Year Honor Roll this spring and the Dean’s List in both semesters.
In her first season of college golf, Frye posted one of the best scoring averages in school history with 73.5 strokes per round. En route to SEC All-Freshman Team honors, Frye led the Wildcats in stroke average, top-10 finishes (two), top-two performances (three) and rounds of par or better (13). Her 13 rounds of par or better is the second most in a single season in school history.
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