LINCOLN, Neb. – Summit League officials announced the 2023 Women's Golf All-League teams Friday with four Denver Pioneers landing on the first team. A vote of the league's nine head coaches determined the teams, which also included three repeat all-league honorees.
This marks the first time since 2015 and eighth time since 1998, which was the first year women’s golf was sponsored by the League, that four players from the same team were all first-team honorees. Denver had five on the 2014 first team to set a record and added four more the following the season.
Graduate student Alyson Bean and senior Anna Zanusso were both first-team honorees in 2022 and Anna Krekling moved up a spot after earning second-team honors a season ago. Joining those three on the first team to round out the quartet of DU golfers was sophomore Clara Gestsdottir.
Zanusso, who is a three-time first team honoree, led all Summit League golfers with a 72.0 stroke average in 27 regular season rounds, while Bean, who is a four-time all-league honoree, followed close behind with a 72.5 average.
Zanusso had a League-best 16 rounds of par or better this season, while Bean had the best 54-hole score of her career and by a Summit League golfer this season when she shared medalist honors with a 207 (-9) total at the Westbrook Invitational.
Krekling owned a 73.6 stroke average and Gestsdottir carried a 74.6 stroke average to help DU boast a League-best 291.2 team average. The Pioneers, who will be aiming for their fourth consecutive League Championship, were the only Summit League team to average under 300 strokes per round during the regular season.
South Dakota’s Akari Hayashi rounded out the five-member squad, giving the Coyotes a first-team honoree for the second consecutive season (Learke Jensen). Hayashi paced South Dakota with a 75.2 stroke average and guided the Coyotes to a team win at the Ozarks National Invitational where she captured her first career medalist honors.
The five member second team consisted of all first-time honorees, including sophomore Emma Bryant who gave Denver its fifth all-league selection.
Oral Roberts’ Malene Arildsen was one of two freshmen on the second team as NDSU rookie Madi Hicks joined her with that distinction. Elise Hoven, Hicks’ teammate, gave the Bison a pair of all-league honorees for the first time since 2019.
Bryant topped the second team with a 75.7 stroke average, while Arildsen led the Golden Eagles with a 76.0 stroke average. Hoven (75.8) and Hicks (75.9) were separate by just four strokes in 29 rounds of competition for the Bison.
South Dakota State’s Piper Stubbs was the third sophomore on the second team, which was made up entirely of underclassmen. Stubbs matched Arildsen with a 76.0 stroke average as both players had the identical number of strokes in 27 rounds of regular-season play.
Five more players earned honorable mention honors as that distinction was incorporated into the awards for the first time. That quintet of honorees includes Omaha senior Nicole Hansen, South Dakota freshman Catie Nekola, the Oral Roberts duo of Cristina Riu, a junior, and Kate Strickland, a freshman, and St. Thomas junior Courtney Wedin.
2023 Women's Golf All-League Teams
First Team
Alyson Bean, Denver****
Clara Gestsdottir, Denver
Akari Hayashi, South Dakota
Anna Krekling, Denver**
Anna Zanusso, Denver***
Second Team
Malene Arildsen, Oral Roberts
Emma Bryant, Denver
Madi Hicks, North Dakota State
Elise Hoven, North Dakota State
Piper Stubbs, South Dakota State
Honorable Mention
Nicole Hansen, Omaha
Catie Nekola, South Dakota
Cristina Riu, Oral Roberts
Kate Strickland, Oral Roberts
Courtney Wedin, St. Thomas
*Number of all-league honors
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