Bradley University Athletics

Hawkins & Welch Earn MVC Scholar-Athlete Honors

Women's Golf 4/9/2020 3:05:00 PM

ST. LOUIS, Mo. – For the 23^rd consecutive year Bradley Women's Golf boasts a First-Team Missouri Valley Conference Scholar-Athlete with junior Maddie Hawkins earning the honor according to an announcement by the league office Thursday afternoon. In addition, sophomore Megan Welch received honorable mention MVC Scholar-Athlete recognition.

A civil engineering major with a 3.92 cumulative grade point average, Hawkins played in all but one tournament in 2019-20 and ranked second on the team with a 77.24 season stroke average. She led the team with 16 rounds in the 70's, carding a season-best one-over par 73 in the final round at the season-opening Redbird Invitational.

Hawkins was Bradley's top finisher at the MVC Preview in the fall, tying for seventh overall. She closed the season ranked 11^th in the MVC in the Golfstat.com rankings, while her season stroke average was 12^th in the MVC. After missing the spring opener with an injury, Hawkins returned to shoot a 229 at the River Landing Classic. Her career stroke average of 79.04 ranks 14^th in Bradley history.

Owning a 3.55 cumulative grade point average, Welch is a mathematics education major. She played in each of the final six tournaments of the 2019-20 season, ranking fourth on the squad with a 77.76 stroke average. Welch was named MVC Golfer of the Week after she tied for ninth at the Rio Verde Invitational in the spring opener for the first top-10 finish of her career.

Welch posted a 75.44 stroke average over the final three tournaments, including the Little Rock Invitational to close out the fall schedule. She fired a pair of career-best 72's in the final two rounds of the Rio Verde Invite and had back-to-back top-20 showings at the Chippewa Invitational (T18th) and Little Rock Invite (T19th). Her career stroke average of 78.92 ranks 13^th in Bradley history.

During Bradley's league record 23-year run of having at least one First-Team MVC Scholar-Athlete, 17 Bradley student-athletes have garnered a total of 34 first-team scholar-athlete awards, seven better than Southern Illinois' 27 first-team scholar-athlete picks during that same stretch.

In fact, the Braves boast a total of 32 first-team scholar-athletes since the start of the 1999-2000 season, which is nine more than any other MVC member over that span. Bradley is second all-time in MVC women's golf scholar-athlete selections (35), behind Southern Illinois' Valley record 37 and the Braves have 10 more Valley scholar-athlete picks than any other league member.

The criteria for the MVC scholar-athlete team parallels the CoSIDA (College Sports Information Directors of America) standards for academic Academic All-America® program. Nominees must have at least a 3.30 cumulative grade point average (4.0 scale), while the student-athletes must have reached sophomore athletic and academic standing at their institutions and must have participated in at least 50 percent of her team's rounds.

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Players Mentioned

Maddie Hawkins: Junior

Megan Welch: Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Maddie Hawkins
: Junior

Megan Welch
: Sophomore