NEW YORK – Xavier junior Mikayla Fitzpatrick, who won medalist honors at last week’s BIG EAST Championship, has been named BIG EAST Player of the Year in women’s golf. St. John’s Jessie Kweon has been chosen BIG EAST Freshman of the Year. Fitzpatrick also headlines a seven-player All-BIG EAST Team. The selections were made by the league’s head coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own players.
The Xavier coaching staff, led by head coach Breanna Jenco, was named BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year.
Fitzpatrick, a junior from Phoenix, Ariz., took first place at the BIG EAST Championship at Callawassie Island Golf Club on April 19-21, with an even-par score of 216 over 54 holes and won the competition by nine strokes. She fired a 4-under-par 68 in the second round, the lowest score by a BIG EAST female golfer at Callawassie Island. For 2018-19, Fitzpatrick has been the highest ranked individual golfer in the BIG EAST according to GolfStat and owns a 73.33 stroke average. She has seven top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments.
Kweon, a native of Little Neck, N.Y., is the highest rated freshman in the BIG EAST, according to GolfStat. She finished in the top 20 in all five tournaments that she played, including an 11th-place finish at the BIG EAST Championship. Kweon is the first St. John's golfer to be named Freshman of the Year since Harin Lee won the award in 2011.
Fitzpatrick, Seton Hall’s Lizzie Win and Georgetown’s Christina Parsells are all repeat All-BIG EAST selections.
Two of Fitzpatrick’s teammates, senior Mikayla Smith and grad student Lyndsey Hunnell, also made the All-BIG EAST Team. Smith tied for fourth place at the BIG EAST Championship and had four other top-10 finishes while compiling a stroke average of 75.67. Hunnell tied for eighth at the BIG EAST Championship and has a 75.04 stroke average, which included six top-20 finishes in nine other tournaments.
Win, a junior from Sylvania, Ohio, finished second to Fitzpatrick at the BIG EAST Championship with a 9-over-par 225 (74-73-78). She has posted five top-10 finishes in 10 tournaments, including a first place. Win compiled a 74.92 stroke average and has garnered All-BIG EAST honors in all three years as a collegian. She is joined on the All-BIG EAST squad by junior Carolina Ronchel. A transfer from LIU-Brooklyn, Ronchel posted a 75.92 stroke average in her first year with the Pirates and three top-10 finishes, including a tie for fourth at the BIG EAST Championship.
Parsells, a senior from Bernardsville, N.J., finished third at the BIG EAST Championship, one stroke behind Win at 226 (79-72-75). In 2018-19, Parsells had three top-five finishes, including one victory. Parsells has earned All-BIG EAST honors in all four seasons of her career. Georgetown’s Popowitz joined her classmate on the All-BIG EAST team. She had five top-20 finishes this year while compiling a 75.88 stroke average. Popowitz was the BIG EAST Player of the Year as a sophomore.
Xavier’s Jenco is in her fourth season at the helm of the Musketeer program and led the team to its first BIG EAST crown this year, which also was the first conference title in school history.
BIG EAST Player of the Year
Mikayla Fitzpatrick, Xavier
BIG EAST Freshman of the Year
Jessie Kweon, St. John’s
BIG EAST Coaching Staff of the Year
Xavier
All-BIG EAST Team
Christina Parsells, Georgetown, Sr., Bernardsville, N.J.
Alexa Popowitz, Georgetown, Sr., Boca Raton, Fla.
Carolina Ronchel, Seton Hall, Jr., Huelva, Spain
Lizzie Win, Seton Hall, Jr., Sylvania, Ohio
Mikayla Fitzpatrick, Xavier, Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.
Lyndsey Hunnell, Xavier, Sr., Troutville, Va.
Mikayla Smith, Xavier, Sr., Appleton, Wis.