Cline earns First Team All-HCAC honors
The Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference (HCAC) has announced its women's golf All-Conference team. The team features Beaver sophomore Kiley Cline (Fostoria/St. Wendelin). She becomes the first Bluffton women's golfer in school history to earn all-conference honors.
This is the first year the HCAC has altered the way it recognizes the golf all-conference. Utilizing Golf Stat, the top-10 ranked individuals are awarded All-Heartland Conference honors. Furthermore, the top-ranked individual was recognized as Women's Golf Athlete of the Year, and the highest ranking student-athlete in their first year of competition earned Newcomer of the Year honors.
After averaging 90.79 her freshman year she has knocked off nearly seven strokes and her average for the 22-23 campaign, finishing with a school-record 83.58 average for the season. She is a 4-time HCAC Player of the Week this year and has finished top 5 in five of the eight events this season, including a 2nd place finish in the conference preview and an 8th place finish at the HCAC Championship.
Kiley's honor is the fruit of a year's worth of hard work. With the new selection process for all-conference based of national Golfstat rankings, she is a part of the first class in HCAC history where the honor is based off the entire season instead of your finish at the championship. The list included players from just four schools. HCAC-champion Rose Hulman topped the selections, tallying five of the 10 awards. Mount St. Joseph and Transylvania checked in with two honorees apiece.
With her sophomore season in the rearview mirror, Kiley's eyes are set on another selection next season as well as the quest to dethrone 2-time HCAC Player of the Year Precious Saelee.