Jensen Castle, Laney Frye Selected to 2023 All-SEC Second Team
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – For the first time since 1996, the University of Kentucky women’s golf team has placed a pair of teammates on the All-Southeastern Conference Teams. Jensen Castle and Laney Frye have been named All-SEC Second Team selections, it was announced by the league office Thursday.
Laney Frye | All-SEC Second Team
Laney Frye, a junior from Lexington, Kentucky, is currently ranked fifth in the SEC in scoring average with a 71.22, which leads the team and is on track to breaking the single-season, stroke-average school record. She recently received the team’s low stroke average award and the most improved award at its annual banquet.
Her 71.22 stroke average would mark the second school record she has cracked this season, as she already reset her own school record for most par-or-better rounds in a season with 17 thus far in 2022-23. She tied the school record last season with 14. Moreover, 10 of her 27 rounds this season have been in the 60s. That includes three rounds of 67, which is her career best.
The junior finished T6 at the 2023 SEC Championship, which marked the program’s best individual finish at the tournament in more than a decade. There, she had the third-most birdies of any player in the field. Frye leads the team with six top-10 finishes this season and two top-five finishes in 2022-23, which are both career records for the junior.
Her sharp shooting this season has helped her claim three of the best tournament totals in her college career, including her 206 (-10) to help her team win its first tournament title of the season at the Illini Invitational, her 207 (-9) at the UCF Challenge and her 210 (-6) to help her team win its second tournament title of the season at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational.
The Wildcat was also invited to compete at the 2023 ANWA, earning a spot as one of the top 30 amateurs in the U.S.
The All-SEC selection marked her second, as she was named to the 2021 SEC All-Freshman Team.
Jensen Castle | All-SEC Second Team & SEC Community Service Team
Jensen Castle, a senior from West Columbia, South Carolina, has a 71.83 scoring average, which is ranked 10th in the SEC and second on the team. In the fall, she led the lineup to back-to-back tournament titles. She finished T4 (205) to help UK win the Illini Women’s Invitational in mid-October, and she finished with medalist honors (209) to help UK win the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational in late-October. Her 205 at the Illini Women’s Invitational was the second-best scorecard in her college career, and her 209 at the Ruth’s Chris Tar Heel Invitational helped her earn the first medalist honor in her college career.
She has five finishes inside the top 10 this season, including a team-leading four finishes inside the top five in 2022-23. The senior has 13 rounds of par-or-better, a career best, including seven rounds in the 60s, also a career best. That includes one 66 at the Illini Women’s Invitational, which is her career best.
During the regular season, Castle led the lineup in six of the seven tournaments she played in (three in the fall, three in the spring). The Wildcat was also invited to compete at the 2023 ANWA, earning a spot as one of the top 30 amateurs in the U.S.
The All-SEC selection marked her third, as she was named to the 2020 SEC All-Freshman Team and 2020 All-SEC First Team.
Castle was also named to the SEC Community Service Team.
The senior took it upon herself to spend more than six hours last winter ringing the bell for the Salvation Army at the campus Kroger. It’s a an act of service that she annually takes part in each winter. Also around that time, Castle volunteered at the Shriner’s Hospital as “Santa’s Helper,” serving breakfast to patients and their families. Another event that Castle routinely engages in is UK’s God’s Pantry initiative, bagging food and delivering them to local schools each year. Among many other organizations, the Wildcat was also involved with Kentucky Special Olympics, interacting with and inspiring athletes with learning or physical disabilities.
Castle and Frye still have plenty of golf left this season, as the Wildcats prepare to compete in the NCAA Pullman Regional at Palouse Ridge Golf Club in Pullman, Washington, on May 8-10 for a chance to return to the NCAA Women’s Golf Championship.
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