Young Named Coach of the Year, Stephens Gets Freshman Award in The American

IRVING, Texas –– University of Tulsa freshman redshirt golfer Allyn Stephens and Head Coach Annie Young earned two of the top golf honors in the American Athletic Conference for the 2023-24 season, the league announced on Wednesday.

Stephens was selected as The American's Freshman of the Year and Young was voted by her fellow coaches as the Coach of the Year, sharing the honor with SMU's Lauren Mason.

In her sixth season, Young guided the Golden Hurricane to two regular season tournament victories including at their own Dale McNamara Invitational in the fall and the Nexus Collegiate in the first event of the spring season. Last week, Young led Tulsa to a runner-up finish at the American Athletic Conference Championship with a 19-under par score of 845, placing two strokes behind team champion SMU.

Stephens opened her Tulsa career with a second-place performance at the Sam Golden Invitational last fall, shooting rounds of 67-68-68 for a 12-under score of 204 in her first collegiate tournament. She added three more top-10 finishes and placed among the top-25 six times this season. Stephens finished in 10^th place at last week's AAC Championship.

Stephens was joined on the all-conference team by teammates Lovisa Gunnar and Grace Kilcrease. Gunnar finished second at the AAC Championship with an 8-under 208 score, while Kilcrease placed third at 6-under 210. On the year, Gunnar finished among the top-25 six times, including twice in the top-10. Kilcrease added a second top-5 performance at The Ally Tournament in the fall, finishing fifth overall while totaling six top-20 performances through the season.

2024 AMERICAN ATHLETIC CONFERENCE WOMEN'S GOLF AWARDS

Golf Player of the Year

Melanie Green, South Florida

Freshman of the Year

Allyn Stephens, Tulsa

Coaches of the Year

Lauren Mason, SMU

Annie Young, Tulsa

All-Conference Team

Mason Lewis, North Texas

Emilie Ricaud, North Texas

Ellie Roth, North Texas