Coral Springs, Florida – Gustavus Adolphus women’s golfers Kayleigh Dittes (Eden Prairie, Minn.), Taylor Drenttel (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.), and Ann Jackson (Fargo, N.D.) have been selected as All-American Scholars by the National Golf Coaches Association (NGCA). The National Golf Coaches Association All-American Scholar Teams for Division I, II & III were announced with a total of 585 women’s collegiate golfers recognized with this prestigious honor.
The criteria for selection to the All-American Scholar Team are some of the most stringent in all of college athletics. The minimum cumulative GPA is 3.50.
Taylor Drenttel
Kayleigh Dittes
Kayleigh Dittes makes her second-consecutive appearance on the NGCA All-American Scholar Team. A junior from Eden Prairie, Minn., Dittes holds a cumulative GPA of 3.809 in biology. Kayleigh finished fourth on the team in stroke average this season with an 82.0, recording three top-five finishes.
Senior captain Taylor Drenttel, now a three-time recipient of this award, ended her career with an outstanding GPA of 3.927 as a psychology and business management double major. An NGCA All-Region recipient for the Gusties this season, Drenttel was also named to the CoSIDA Academic All-District Team for her efforts on the links and in the classroom. Taylor led the team with an 80.6 stroke average and tournament victories at the Division 3 Classic (73-80-153) and Wartburg Spring Invitational (76-79-155).
Also a senior captain, Ann Jackson makes her third-straight showing on the NGCA All-American Scholar Team. Jackson finished second on the team with a career-best average of 80.7, taking home All-Conference honors for the second time in her career after an eighth place finish at the MIAC Championships, and being named to the NGCA All-Region Team. The Fargo, N.D. native also led Gustavus with a 24th place finish at the 2012 NCAA Championships. A political science and business management double major, Annie finished her career with a GPA of 3.875.
Ann Jackson
The Gustavus women’s golf team finished second at the MIAC Championships (961, +97) last fall before earning a trip to the 2010 NCAA Tournament in the spring. The Gusites placed 11th at the NCAA Championships after firing a four-round 1,286 (+134). Gustavus’ team stroke average of 320.9 this year ranks second all-time in the program’s history.
Dittes, Drenttel, and Jackson were three of six total players from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) to be named to the All-America Scholar Team. They join Traci Johnson and Taylor Wells of Carleton and Vanessa Kleckner of St. Olaf.
The National Golf Coaches Association, founded in 1983, is a non-profit organization representing women’s collegiate golf coaches. Today, the NGCA represents nearly 500 coaches throughout the U.S. and is dedicated to educating, promoting and recognizing both its members and the student- athletes they represent.