ST. AUGUSTINE, FLA – The Peach Belt Conference has announced the 2020-21 women’s golf All-Conference Team. North Georgia’s Megan Sabol was named the PBC Player of the Year for the third time in her career while teammate Madeline Ananthasane was named the Freshman of the Year. UNC Pembroke’s Amanda Hamrin was named the winner of the Elite 16 Award presented by EAB while Flagler’s Santiago Cavanagh was named the Coach of the Year.
Sabol becomes the first three-time winner of the PBC Player of the Year award in women’s golf and becomes the fifth PBC student-athlete in all sports to win the league’s Player of the Year honor three times. The senior from Augusta, Ga., has won three events so far this season and moved into a tie for the most wins in a career with seven. She leads the league with a 73.65 stroke average, on pace to be third-lowest in a single season in league history. She won the season-opening Lady Flames Super Regional Preview, the Low Tide Intercollegiate and the Argonaut Invitational, UNG’s most recent event. She has not finished outside of the top four in any of the six tournaments she has played in this season and her five-under-par 67 in the second round of the Argonaut is the lowest rounds relative to par in the PBC this season. Sabol is the only UNG golfer to be named the PBC Player of the Year.
Madeline Ananthasane played in all six events and all 17 competitive rounds this season for the Nighthawks. A native of Dacula, Ga., she was named the PBC Golfer of the Week on March 18 after finishing in a tie for third at the Peggy Kirk Bell Invitational. That was one of her four top-10 and three top-five finishes this season as she was second on the team and fourth in the Peach Belt with a 75.76 stroke average. She had four rounds of par or better including a four-under 68 at the LeeAnn Noble Memorial, second-lowest on the team and tied for second-lowest in the PBC. Ananthasane becomes the first Nighthawk to be named the PBC Freshman of the Year.
The PBC Elite 16 Award presented by EAB is given annually to the player participating in the PBC Championship with the highest cumulative GPA. A third-year sophomore from Vasteras, Sweden, Amanda Hamrin carries a perfect 4.00 GPA and is enrolled in pre-major studies. She was named to the PBC Team of Academic Distinction, is a WGCA All-America Scholar and has been named to the UNCP Chancellor’s list three times. On the course, Hamrin played in all six events for the Braves in 2020-21, finishing in a tie for fourth at the Spring Diamondback Intercollegiate. Hamrin becomes the second Brave to win the Elite 16 Award for women’s golf, joining Katy Flax who won in 2018.
Santiago Cavanagh has his Flagler Saints poised to win their fourth straight PBC Championship in 2021 as he wins the Coach of the Year honor for the fourth time. In his 13th season as the women’s coach at Flagler, his Saints lead the PBC in team stroke average by over six strokes per round. Flagler is currently ranked 13th in the nation in the latest WGCA Coaches Poll and 15th in the latest Golfstat team rankings. Flagler has finished in the top five in six of their seven events this season with second-place at the Savannah Lakes Invitational and Lady Bearcat Invitational. Five Flagler golfers are ranked among the PBC’s top 10 in lowest stroke average. Flagler has won four PBC championships overall, more than any other league team.
The women’s golf All-Conference team is listed below. All player awards and rankings were gathered from Golfstat statistical reports.
Peach Belt Conference Women’s Golf
2020-21 All-Conference Team
First Team
Madeline Ananthasane, North Georgia
Kim Jakobs, Flagler
Bella Petrone, Flagler
Megan Sabol, North Georgia
Sophie Wheeler, Flagler
Second Team
Anna Asphamn, Flagler
Victoria Libaak, Columbus State
Carson Roberts, North Georgia
Marietta Ruhl, Flagler
Hannah Stephenson, Lander
Elite 16 Award presented by EAB
Amanda Hamrin, UNC Pembroke
Freshman of the Year
Madeline Ananthasane, North Georgia
Player of the Year
Megan Sabol, North Georgia
Coach of the Year
Santiago Cavanagh, Flagler