CHARLOTTE, N.C. – Charleston Southern’s Olivia Jordan-Higgins and Coastal Carolina’s Aruka Felgueroso have been voted the 2008-09 Big South Co-Women’s Golfers of the Year by the League’s head coaches, it was announced Monday evening at the Conference’s annual banquet held at The Patriot Golf Club at Grand Harbor in Ninety-Six, S.C.  Winthrop head coach Jodi Wendt was voted Coach of the Year and the Eagles’ Brittany Penny was selected as Freshman of the Year by the group.  Gardner-Webb’s Katie Garahan was voted Women’s Golf Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the Big South’s sports information directors.

Jordan-Higgins and Felgueroso tied for the League’s top award with 39 points and four first-place votes each.  Jordan-Higgins leads the Big South with a 75.73 scoring average and was among the League leaders with four Top-10 finishes.  She was Charleston Southern’s top finisher in seven of nine team events and was awarded medalist honors at the CSU Fall Invitational.  Jordan-Higgins also had three Top 5 finishes in 2008-09 and has been ranked among the Top 250 players in the country for most of the season.  She also posted three rounds under par, including two rounds at 70, which is tied for the lowest in the Conference this season.

Jordan-Higgins is Charleston Southern’s first Golfer of the Year recipient since Patricia Martinson in 2000, and the program’s second overall.

Felgueroso is now a two-time Golfer of the Year winner, as she was honored with the top prize as a freshman in 2007.  She is the first two-time winner of the award since CSU’s Martinson in 1999 and 2000, and the third overall multiple-winner in Conference history.  Felgueroso is second in the Conference with a 76.35 scoring average and posted two Top 10 finishes during the season, including medalist honors at the USF/Waterlefe Invitational.  Currently ranked No. 186 in the nation, Felgueroso also posted three rounds under par and two rounds at 70 to tie for the lowest round in the Big South this season.  She was the team’s top finisher in all seven of Coastal Carolina’s events this year.

Wendt directed her team to the No. 2 seed in this week’s Big South Women’s Golf Championship and a No. 112 national ranking.  Playing the second-toughest schedule in the League this year, Winthrop finished the regular-season with four Top 5 team finishes, including the last three outings.  The Eagles also had three players ranked in the Big South’s top nine scoring leaders – the lone team with this distinction this season.  Wendt is the first Winthrop coach to earn Coach of the Year honors since Eddie Weldon won three consecutive years from 1989-91.

Penny is Winthrop’s second consecutive Freshman of the Year honoree and the program’s fifth overall recipient of the freshman award.  She is fifth in the Big South this season with a 78.41 scoring average, and was Winthrop’s top finisher in three events, the most on the squad this year.  Penny had nine rounds in the 70s, and posted her best finish of the season at the Winthrop Intercollegiate, where she tied for 12th.

Garahan, a senior majoring in English with a concentration on professional education, is Gardner-Webb’s first major award winner in women’s golf in the Bulldogs’ first season in the Big South Conference.  She is second on her squad and 15th overall in the League in scoring average, and was the team’s top finisher in two events this year.  Garahan was named to the NGCA All-American Scholar Team in 2006 and was a three-time Academic Team member in the Atlantic Sun Conference in her first three years at GWU.

The Big South also announced half of its All-Conference honorees at the banquet.  These selections are based on regular-season play and feature Jordan-Higgins, Felgueroso and Penny, as well as Radford’s Hannah Coles.  Gardner-Webb’s Courtney Meyer and Winthrop’s Sara Hester tied for the fifth position.  The four remaining All-Conference members (and any additional ties) will be determined by their finish in the Championship and not among those already announced.

Coastal Carolina leads the 2009 Big South Women’s Golf Championship following Monday’s first round, which is being contested at The Patriot Golf Club at Grand Harbor in Ninety-Six, S.C.  Second round action will begin Tuesday morning at 8:00am ET, while final round competition is slated for Wednesday morning at 8:00am ET.  The women’s champion will receive an automatic berth in the NCAA Regionals.  The event is free and open to the public.

2009 Big South Conference Women’s Golf Award Winners

All-Conference 
Aruka Felgueroso, Jr., Coastal Carolina
Olivia Jordan-Higgins, Jr., Charleston Southern
Hannah Coles, Soph., Radford
Brittany Penny, Fr., Winthrop
Sara Hester, Sr., Winthrop (tie)
Courtney Meyer, Soph., Gardner-Webb (tie)
 
Academic All-Conference
Katie Jurenovich, Soph., Bucknell
Madison Jeter, Jr., Charleston Southern
Aruka Felgueroso, Jr. Coastal Carolina
Katie Garaham, Sr., Gardner-Webb
Lisa Chandler, Jr., High Point
Meghan Doherty, Soph., Holy Cross
Kristen Cometto, Jr., Presbyterian
Maggie Watts, Jr. Radford
Rachel Smith, Jr., Winthrop

Freshman of the Year
Brittany Penny, Winthrop (unanimous)

Co-Golfers of the Year
Aruka Felgueroso, Jr., Coastal Carolina
Olivia Jordan-Higgins, Jr., Charleston Southern

Coach of the Year
Jodi Wendt, Winthrop

Scholar-Athlete of the Year
Katie Garahan, Sr., Gardner-Webb