The Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) announced its 2022-23 All-American Scholar Team and Wayne State had three players recognized.
Recognized were junior Abbey Kurmel, sophomore Abbigail Brodersen and freshman Saffire Sayre.
Criteria for the honor includes maintaining an overall cumulative grade point average of 3.50 or higher while also playing in 50 percent of the college’s regularly scheduled competitive rounds during the year. A total of 1,401 women’s collegiate golfers from 378 programs were recognized with the academic honor.
Kurmel, a junior from Okemos, Mich., had one top five and two top 10 finishes with a scoring average of 81.24 with seven of her last 10 rounds in the 70’s. Kurmel shot season-best scores of 76-77 (153) at the Newman Spring Invite and placed fourth at the Nebraska Intercollegiate Invite last fall and tied for ninth at the SMSU Spring Challenge in Arizona. Other academic honors for Kurmel this season include College Sports Communicators Academic All-District and NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence.
Brodersen, a sophomore from Albion, earned All-NSIC Second Team honors this season with a scoring average of 80.76 to rank fourth all-time at WSC for a single season. Brodersen had nine rounds in the 70’s with one top five finish this season, tied for second at the Nebraska Intercollegiate Invite last fall. She was also named College Sports Communicators Academic All-District and received NSIC All-Academic Team of Excellence honors.
Sayre, a freshman from West Des Moines, Iowa, earned NSIC All-Tournament Team honors after finishing in a tie for fifth with a 54-hole score of 233 (77-72-84). She ranked second on the team in scoring average this season at 80.38 and had nine scores in the 70’s with three top five and five top 10 placings. Seven of her 11 spring rounds were in the 70’s and Sayre was named WSC Female Freshman Athlete of the Year.
Wayne State finished third at the 2023 NSIC Women’s Golf Championships and set a new school record with a team scoring average of 319.62, an improvement of 4.5 strokes from last year’s school record team scoring average.
