DALLAS – Conference USA announced its 2023 Women’s Golf All-Academic Team on Monday, honoring five First Team selections and five Second Team selections from nine member institutions for their academic and athletic accomplishments this season. Middle Tennessee placed a total of three student-athletes on the two teams, while WKU boasted one on each.
 
2023 All-Academic First Team
*Catie Craig, WKU, Soph. (academic junior), 4.0 GPA, Agriculture
Abbie Lee, Middle Tennessee, Soph., 4.0 GPA, Mechatronics Engineering, Engineering Technology
*Shreya Pal, North Texas, Jr., 4.0 GPA, Finance
Emilia Smith, UAB, GS, 4.0 GPA, MA in Communication Management
Clemence Cadeac, Florida Atlantic, GS, 4.0 GPA, MBA in Business Administration
*repeat selection
 
2023 All-Academic Second Team
Sydney Hackett, WKU, Fr. (academic junior), 3.83 GPA, Finance
Maia Samuelsson, Charlotte, RS Soph., 3.86 GPA, Communications
Taylor Edlin, Middle Tennessee, Sr., 3.796 GPA, Criminal Justice Administration/Homeland Security and Spanish
Molly Bebelaar, Middle Tennessee, Sr., 3.796 GPA, Leisure and Sport Management
Karissa Kilby, FIU, So., 3.77 GPA, Psychology
 
Catie Craig, the Conference USA individual champion this past weekend, earns All-Academic First Team honors for the second consecutive season. The Georgia native has played in all 10 tournaments this year for WKU, including wins at the Reynolds Lake Invitational and the Conference USA Championships, and five top-10 finishes.
 
Abbie Lee appeared in all nine tournaments for Middle Tennessee this season and was the team’s top finisher at the Dale McNamara Invitational and the Olde Stone Intercollegiate. The Kentucky native posted a pair of 70s in rounds this season and was under par on three occasions.
 
Shreya Pal, like Craig, is a repeat selection to the All-Academic First Team. The Gurugram, India, native helped the Mean Green to a third consecutive conference title this past week and appeared in eight tournaments this season for North Texas, posting a top-20 finish at the ICON Invitational.
 
Emilia Smith earned her bachelor’s degree in just two-and-a-half years and now has a 4.0 in her master’s program, Communication Management. Smith competed in eight of the Blazers’ nine tournaments this season, which included a top-10 finish and a pair of top-20 finishes.
 
Clemence Cadeac, a native of Toulouse, France, appeared in all nine tournaments this year for the Owls. The graduate student finished a season-best second at the William and Mary Fall Invitational earlier this season.
 
WKU’s Sydney Hackett, Charlotte’s Maia Samuelsson, Middle Tennessee’s Taylor Edlin and Molly Bebelaar and FIU’s Karissa Kilby make up the All-Academic Second Team. For second All-Academic team, nominees must have a 3.75 cumulative grade point average or higher and have participated in at least 75% of their team’s scheduled tournaments this season.