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Daniel Hooker
WCU Athletics
Western Carolina landed five golfers on the 2024 Academic All-District® Men’s and Women’s At-Large teams, selected by College Sports Communicators (CSC) and announced on Tuesday. Redshirt senior men’s golfer Pablo Hernandez earned plaudits on the men’s team while women’s golfers in fifth-year senior Victoria Ladd, senior Kayleigh Baker, and sophomores Sadler Miller and Brie Mapanao collected women’s at-large all-district honors.
Nominees for the CSC Academic All-District Teams must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically with at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average on a 4.0 scale. The At-Large program sports include field hockey, ice hockey, lacrosse, water polo, bowling, fencing, rifle, crew/rowing, skiing, golf, gymnastics, men’s volleyball, men’s wrestling, and women’s beach volleyball.
A part of the Catamount men’s golf scoring five in all 11 of the team’s competitions including 10 in stroke play, Pablo Hernandez ranked second on the squad with a seasonal scoring average of 72.41, ranked 19th in the Southern Conference. He shot 27 of his 29 rounds in the 70s or better with eight fired in the 60s including a career-low 65 in the second round of the Golfweek Fall Challenge. A product of Madrid, Spain, Hernandez paced the Catamounts in scoring four times in 2023-24 and posted four Top 10 individual finishes.
Over two seasons in the Purple & Gold, Hernandez posted a stroke average of 72.89 over 29 career rounds to finish his collegiate career seventh in WCU’s career record books.
Hernandez double-majored in Marketing and Sport Management with a 3.52 cumulative grade point average.
Fifth-year senior Victoria Ladd was a part of WCU’s scoring five in all 10 events, averaging 77.26 over 27 seasonal rounds. A combined 21 rounds were shot in the 70s, carding a career-low round of 69 over the first 18 holes at the Jupiter Women’s Invitational. She recorded 25 individual finishes in her final collegiate season.
Ladd finished her five-year career ranked 11th in scoring average at 76.83 over a school-record 109 combined rounds.
Originally from Greensboro, N.C., Ladd is a dual graduate of Western Carolina, earning a Bachelor of Science in business administration in both sport management and marketing in May 2023, finishing with a cumulative GPA of 4.0. She is also pursuing her Master of Business Administration from WCU.
Kayleigh Baker competed in each of WCU’s seasonal events in 2023-24, finishing with a seasonal stroke average of 77.41. She recorded 18 of her 27 rounds in the 70s or better with a pair carded in the 60s. She posted a career-best round of 69 on the opening 18 holes at the Jupiter Women’s Invitational before usurping that by a stroke with a career-low round of 68 in the third round. Her three-round score of 214 at the same event was her career best and tied for the seventh-best 54-hole score in program history.
Over 29 career events, Baker posted a career scoring average of 78.31 over 75 total rounds to finish among WCU’s Top 25 in scoring average.
A product of St. Augustine, Fla., Baker boasted a 3.73 cumulative GPA while majoring in Communication.
Among WCU’s scoring five in eight of the team’s 10 seasonal events – each coming in stroke play – Sadler Miller posted a stroke average of 77.46 over 24 total rounds including a combined 18 shot in the 70s. She carded her career-low round of 71 on the second 18 holes at the Mimosa Hills Intercollegiate on the way to her best 54-hole score of 222 (79-71-72) and a tie for the runner-up position.
Miller is majoring in Interior Design and boasts a cumulative GPA of 3.92.
An All-Southern Conference selection at season’s end, Mapanao paced the Catamount women’s golf team in 2023-24, rewriting her own WCU single-season scoring record with a 73.41 stroke average – ranked sixth-best in the SoCon. A combined 26 of her 27 rounds were carded in the 70s including a career-low round of 66 carded in the middle round of winning the fall-ending Terrier Intercollegiate, her first career medalist honor that landed her SoCon Women’s Golfer of the Week plaudits. A product of Quakers Hill, New South Wales, Australia, Mapanao carded the third-lowest, 54-hole score in school history on the way to a runner-up finish at the Jupiter Women’s Invitational as part of her five Top 10 individual finishes.
Majoring in Integrated Health Sciences, Mapano finished her second year with a 4.0 cumulative grade point average. Mapanao was denoted as advancing to the national ballot for Academic All-America.
The Academic All-District® At-Large teams recognize the nation’s top student-athletes for their combined performances in competition and in the classroom. The CSC Academic All-America® program separately recognizes at-large honorees in four divisions — NCAA Division I, NCAA Division II, NCAA Division III, and NAIA.
Student-athletes selected as CSC Academic All-America® finalists advance to the national ballot to be voted on by CSC members. NCAA and NAIA Women’s At-Large Academic All-America® First-, second-, and third-team honorees will be announced on Tuesday, July 16, 2024, while the Men’s At-Large Academic All-America Teams® will be announced on Wednesday, July 17.