South Dakota junior golfer Akari Hayashi and freshman golfer Catie Nekola picked up their first all-Summit League honors as announced by the league Friday. Hayashi was selected to first team all-Summit while Nekola received honorable mention.
 
Hayashi became the fourth Coyote women's golfer to earn an all-league honor since USD joined the Summit League and the third since 2017 to be voted to the first team. This is the third consecutive year that a Coyote women's golfer has appeared on the all-Summit League list.
 
Hayashi, hailing from Victoria, British Columbia, averaged a career-best 75.17 stroke average in her third year at South Dakota. She led the team and ranked sixth in the conference in stroke average. Hayashi recorded five top-20 individual finishes this season highlighted by a tie for first place at the Ozarks National Invitational. She tied her career-best with a 70 in the final round of that event and also set a new 54-hole score personal best with a 218 overall score. She earned Summit League Golfer of the Month following the victory to end the fall season. Hayashi has recorded six par-or-under rounds this year which adds to her nine such rounds in her career, good for second-most in a career in program history. She heads into the Summit League Championships coming off back-to-back top-20 individual finishes.
 
In her first year with the Coyotes, Nekola averaged a 76.80 stroke average which was second-best on the team. She had three top-20 finishes in her freshman season including a personal-best tournament at the Terrier Intercollegiate. In that event, she recorded season-lows with a 69 in the second round and a 221 overall score. Nekola finished in a tie for fourth individually in that penultimate event of the fall slate. She owns a 56.3 win-loss percentage and has had three par-or-under rounds this year. Nekola is coming off a top-20 individual finish as she gets set for her first Summit League Championships.
 
The Summit League Championships will tee off next week from Wilderness Ridge Golf Course in Lincoln, Nebraska. The three-day tournament begins on Sunday, April 23.

Women's Golf All-League First Team
Alyson Bean, Denver
Clara Gestsdottir, Denver
Akari Hayashi, South Dakota
Anna Krekling, Denver
Anna Zanusso, Denver

Women's Golf All-League Second Team
Malene Arildsen, Oral Roberts
Emma Bryant, Denver
Madi Hicks, North Dakota State
Elise Hoven, North Dakota State
Piper Stubbs, South Dakota State

Women's Golf All-League Honorable Mention
Nicole Hansen, Omaha
Catie Nekola, South Dakota
Cristina Riu, Oral Roberts
Kate Strickland, Oral Roberts
Courtney Wedin, St. Thomas