CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. - The Women's Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) has announced the Kentucky Wesleyan College women's golf program has earned the 2020 Mark Laesch Awards. Teams from all NCAA divisions were recognized based on improvement in adjusted stroke average per individual per round from the 2018-19 to 2019-20 seasons (denoted in parenthesis below).
 
The Division II's Kentucky Wesleyan College (31.25) recorded an incredible improvement this season to earn its first Mark Laesch award and the second from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference in three years.  Other recipients included the University of Maryland Eastern Shore (49.78) in Division I and Bluffton University (55.92) from Division III.
 
"We are genuinely honored," said head coach Ken Badylak. "The players can always look at the Laesch Award and know their effort did not go unnoticed. Other than our academic achievements, this is the single most important award for our program because it justifies hard work."
 
The Panthers featured two different line-ups throughout the season as all returning players improved their scoring averages over the previous year. Overall Wesleyan finished with a 349.17 adjusted scoring average, over 30 shots better than 2018-19.
 
"Upon his passing, I referred to Mark as college golf's best friend," continued Coach Badylak. "As soon as he walked into the room, you could see his passion for golf. What Golfstat has done to elevate college golf is immeasurable. I appreciated our work together and always admired Mark's desire to improve himself and his company."
 
Scout Pope featured a 10-shot improvement from one season to the next as she ended 2019-20 with a scoring average of 90. Samantha Yake continued to get better each season as she posted a team best scoring average of 86. Yake posted low round of 80 in the first round of the Bearcat Intercollegiate back in October.  
 
Kaelen Rice showed a three-shot improvement to her adjusted scoring average while newcomer Erin Sexsmith finished with a scoring average of 87. Maddie Zimmerman completed her first season with an 87-scoring average as well. Hayley Frost competed in the Panthers top-five as well as finishing with a scoring average of 94 which was a five-shot improvement from her first year in the Panthers' purple.
 
The Panthers season was cut short in March due to COVID-19.