Emily Leung Named GNAC Player Of Year, Jaya Rampuri Top freshman

The GNAC Women's Player Of The Year, Emily Leung, Will Lead Her SFU Women's Golf Sqaud Into Their First NCAA Tournament May 8-10 - Image Courtesy SFU Athletics

PORTLAND, Ore. – Three golfers from Simon Fraser University were named to the Great Northwest Athletic Conference Women’s Golf All-Conference Team, led by sophomore Player of the Year Emily Leung, who helped the Clan earn its first-ever NCAA playoff berth after an emotional season.

The late John Buchanan was named the GNAC Coach of the Year by his peers after a legendary coaching career at Simon Fraser. Buchanan, who began the Simon Fraser women’s golf program, coached the team though the fall before a battle with cancer took his life in January.

The foundation Buchanan set helped interim head coach Matthew Steinbach lift the women’s program to new heights in 2017.

The John Buchanan Classic fundraising golf tournament last month raised $60,000 for the John Buchanan Endowment for athletic scholarships.

Leung is a repeat first-team selection as a sophomore after winning the GNAC Championships at Coeur d’Alene Resort Golf Course. She shot a 5-over-par 147 over two rounds to win the tournament by six strokes and become the conference leader in strokes per round with 77.1. The conference crown was her second collegiate title.

A pair of First Team All-GNAC selections were named GNAC co-Freshman of the Year as Simon Fraser’s Jaya Rampuri shared the honour with Concordia’s Cammie Decker. Rampuri ranked fifth in the conference in strokes per round with 78.4 followed immediately by Decker with 78.9.

Rampuri had one of her three top-10 finishes at the Sonoma State Spring Invitational, where she finished in a tie for eighth place. Decker posted her best result at the Concordia Invitational, taking fourth place behind a trio of golfers from Division I Portland State.

image courtesy SFU Athletics .                       L-R: Jaya Rampuri, Emily Leung And Kylie Jack

Leung and Rampuri were joined on the first team by teammate Kylie Jack, who took second place at the GNAC Championships this year. It was her second top-five finish, which is tied for the most this season for Simon Fraser. The senior brought her strokes per round average down to 80.3 in the process.

Simon Fraser University women’s golf, which won the Great Northwest Athletic Conference championship for the second straight year, has been invited to the NCAA tournament for the first time ever.

The women’s golf team will compete in the NCAA West/South Central Super Regional in Wichita Falls, Texas, from May 8-10. The Clan enters the tournament as the 12th seed. The top three teams at the regional tournament advance to the 2017 NCAA Division II Women’s Golf Championship. It will be held May 17-20 at Findlay Country Club in Findlay, Ohio.

2016-17 GNAC WOMEN'S GOLF ALL-CONFERENCE TEAM

Player of the Year: Emily Leung, Simon Fraser
Coach of the Year: John Buchanan, Simon Fraser
Freshman of the Year: Jaya Rampuri, Simon Fraser and Cammie Decker, Concordia
Newcomer of the Year: Shantel Antonio, Concordia

FIRST TEAM
Name, School, Yr., Hometown
Cammie Decker, Concordia, Fr., Keizer, Ore.
Kylie Jack, Simon Fraser, Jr., Kelowna, B.C.
* Emily Lueng, Simon Fraser, So., Richmond, B.C.
@+^ Samantha Miller, Northwest Nazarene, Sr., Hillsboro, Ore.
*+ Jenn Paul, Western Washington, Jr., Bellingham, Wash.
Jaya Rampuri, Simon Fraser, Fr., Coquitlam, B.C.

* - First Team Selection In 2015-16
+ - First Team Selection In 2014-15
^ - First Team Selection In 2013-14
@ - Second Team Selection In 2015-16

-- with files from GNAC Communications