Hausmann, Yongyuan Headline All-Big Sky Women’s Golf Honors
OGDEN, Utah (April 18, 2019) – On the eve of the 2019 Big Sky Women’s Championship, the conference office announced the women’s golf individual winners and all-conference performers for the 2019 season.
Earning back-to-back Big Sky Player of the Year honors is Idaho senior Sophie Hausmann. The Nottuln, Germany native becomes the fourth player in league history to earn the honor in consecutive years. With a tournament win on Sunday, Hausmann would become the fourth player in conference history to win player of the year and individual player of the year honors in the same season for the second time.
Southern Utah rookie Chanikan (Pluem) Yongyuan was named the Big Sky Freshman of the Year. A native of Thailand, Yongyuan burst onto the scene registering seven top 10 finishes and two individual titles. She’s the second Thunderbird player to earn the honor, as teammate Kamonwan (Poy) Prasurtwong took the honor in 2017.
Hausmann and Yongyuan headline the all-conference first team. Hausman is the only four-time first team honoree amongst the group of five. Valeria Patino gave Idaho two honorees on the team. It is Patino’s first time earning first-team recognition. Sacramento State also placed two golfers on the first team – Julia Becker and Corinne Viden. The honor is the second first-team accolade of Becker’s career, last receiving it in 2017. Viden, a second team honoree in 2018, was the freshman of the year a season ago.
Sacramento State leads all schools with five honorees amongst the first, second, third, and honorable mention golfers. Sofie Babic and Nishtha Madan were named to the second team, while newcomer Sydney Smith picked up honorable mention accolades.
Idaho and Northern Arizona received four spots each. Michelle Kim (second team) and Vicky Tsai (honorable mention) gave the reigning champs a quarter of honors. For the Lumberjacks, three of their four honorees were newcomers. Aleksandra Chekalina and Ashley Croft earned third team recognition, while Eliska Kocourkova and Lexi Keene picked up honorable mention accolades.
Prasurtwong earned third team accolades for Southern Utah, while Jasmine Cabajar (second team) and Valerie Hernandez (third team) earned honors for Portland State. Eastern Washington’s Alexa Clark was named to the second team and Madalyn Ardueser tacked on honorable mention recognition. Northern Colorado’s Beah Cruz earned third team honors.
The Big Sky Championship tees off on Friday, April 19 at 7 a.m. PT at the Boulder Creek Golf Club. The tournament will conclude on Sunday with the winner earning the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA Regionals. Fans can follow along with live stats on
Golfstat.
Follow us on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Snapchat at @BigSkyConf for results and behind the scenes photos and video.
2019 Big Sky All-Conference Team
Player of the Year: Sophie Hausmann, Idaho
Freshman of the Year: Chanikan (Pluem) Yongyuan, Southern Utah
#Denotes Four-Time First Team Honoree
^Denotes Second-Time First Team Honoree
First Team
Sophie Hausmann, Idaho#
Chanikan (Pluem) Yongyuan, Southern Utah
Julia Becker, Sacramento State^
Corinne Viden, Sacramento State
Valeria Patino, Idaho
Second Team
Sofie Babic, Sacramento State
Jasmine Cabajar, Portland State
Nishtha Madan, Sacramento State
Alexa Clark, Eastern Washington
Michelle Kim, Idaho
Third Team
Beah Cruz, Northern Colorado
Aleksandra Chekalina, Northern Arizona
Valerie Hernandez, Portland State
Kamonwan (Poy) Prasurtwong, Southern Utah
Ashley Croft, Northern Arizona
Honorable Mention
Sydney Smith, Sacramento State
Eliska Kocourkova, Northern Arizona
Madalyn Ardueser, Eastern Washington
Vicky Tsai, Idaho
Lexi Keene, Northern Arizona