Morningside freshman Samantha Knight is the 2018 GPAC Women’s Golfer of the Year.

Samantha Knight is the 2018 Hauff Mid-America Sports/Great Plains Athletic Conference (GPAC) Women’s Golfer of the Year to headline the 2018 All-GPAC Women’s Golf Team.

Knight is joined on the All-GPAC honor team by teammates Myla Brown, Alexandra Mankle and Maria Zorrilla. Their exploits helped lead the Mustangs to the 2017-18 GPAC championship and a berth in the upcoming NAIA Women’s Golf National Championship to be held May 22-25 at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla.

In addition to the four players named to the All-GPAC team, the Mustangs’ Todd Sapp was named the 2018 Hauff Mid-America Sports/GPAC Women’s Golf Coach of the Year after he guided the Mustangs to their first-ever conference championship.

Sapp, who also earned the GPAC Women’s Golf Coach of the Year award in 2016, has led the Mustang women to NAIA National Tournament appearances two of the last three seasons.

Knight, a freshman from Onawa, Iowa, was the 2017-18 GPAC individual medalist with a four-round total of 20-over par 308 from the combined scoring in the GPAC Fall and Spring Qualifier tournaments. Knight leads the Mustangs with a 78.8-stroke scoring average over the fall and spring seasons. She was the individual medalist at the Mount Marty Fall Invite, the Peru State Spring Invite and the GPAC Spring Qualifier. She carded a one-under par 71 in the first round of the Mount Marty Fall Invite for the Mustangs’ top score of the 2017-18 season.

Brown, a junior from Sioux Falls, S.D., has an 83.2-stroke scoring average and finished fifth in the GPAC individual standings with a 332. She carded a 72 in the second round of the Concordia Bulldog Invite for the Mustangs’ top individual score of the spring season. Brown made the All-GPAC team for the third time in her career.

Mankle, a junior from Milford, Iowa, also made the All-GPAC team for the third time. She has an 84.2-stroke scoring average and finished 12th in the GPAC individual standings with a 345.

Zorrilla, a freshman from Coahuila, Mexico, was the GPAC individual runner-up with a 318. Zorrilla led the Mustangs with a 77.8-stroke scoring average in the fall en route to an overall average of 79.4. She was the individual medalist at the College of Saint Mary Fall Classic and the Briar Cliff Lila Frommelt Fall Classic.

Click here for the complete 2018 All-GPAC Women’s Golf Team.