KINGSVILLE, Texas – The Texas A&M-Kingsville Women’s Golf All-Decade Team sponsored by Whataburger was announced on Wednesday, as was the selection for Javelina Golf Player of the Decade, an honor bestowed upon Kristina Gutierrez (Laredo, Texas).
Gutierrez is joined on the all-decade roster by two of her teammates, Madison Lake (Victoria, Texas) and Rachelle Nielsen (Summerland, British Columbia, Canada), as well as twin sisters Ashley Rivera (McAllen, Texas) and Brandy Rivera (McAllen, Texas). The all-decade honorable mention list includes Ashley Coy (Bastrop, Texas), Abigail Willcoxon (Conroe, Texas), Analysa Coy (Bastrop, Texas) and Jessica Sellers (San Antonio, Texas).
In just three years in Kingsville, Gutierrez has put together a body of work good enough to earn her the title of Javelina Golf Player of the Decade. Her 89 birdies are the second-most in school history and she owns two of the four lowest rounds ever by a Javelina. One of those scores came at the 2018 Skyhawk Women’s Fall Intercollegiate, where Gutierrez collected her first tournament victory. That win was part of a sophomore season in which the Laredo native crafted TAMUK’s second-best full-season stroke average ever, logged the Javs’ highest total ever for birdies in a year and earned a Lone Star Conference Honorable Mention selection.
Madison Lake sits one spot behind Gutierrez in the Javelina record book in career scoring average and career birdies, ranking third in both categories, but also has a few unique accomplishments of her own. Lake is the only player who owns two of TAMUK’s five best single-season scoring averages. Her mark of 79.44 in 2018-19 put her fifth, but she was even better in 2019-20, posting a 78.38 average, good enough for third all-time. In October of 2019, she logged one of the best performances ever by a Javelina, shooting a four-over 146 at the Oklahoma Intercollegiate to take second, her highest finish in Blue and Gold.
No Javelina golfer can come close to matching the 110 birdies Rachelle Nielsen racked up during her four seasons in Kingsville and her career scoring average of 82.28 puts her fourth in the TAMUK record book. Nielsen’s best season came in 2018-19, when she finished with an 80.56 scoring average, the ninth-best mark in program history. Her best score during that year came in the second round of the 2019 LSC Women’s Championships, when she carded a 72, tied for the lowest round by a Javelina at the conference tournament.
Just one spot behind Nielsen on the career scoring average list is Ashley Rivera, who sits in fifth with a mark of 83.49. Rivera owns the lowest 18-, 36- and 54-hole scores in program history, with all three marks coming at the 2014 UH-Victoria Fall Classic. The McAllen native finished that season with a 79.1 stroke average, the fourth-best ever by a Javelina and was named All-LSC Honorable Mention. She also can lay claim to three of TAMUK’s top 15 finishes in terms of national ranking for one year.
The first Javelina golfer to ever earn All-LSC honors was Brandy Rivera, who was chosen to the conference’s Honorable Mention squad in 2014. That accomplishment came after she put up an 80.5 stroke average in 2013-14, good enough for eighth on TAMUK’s all-time list and the fourth-highest national rating in Javelina history. Rivera also ended 2012-13 campaign with the 13th-highest national rating in program history. For her career, Rivera possesses the Javelinas’ 10th-best scoring average.
The Javelina Golf All-Decade Honorable Mention list includes Ashley Coy, the only Javelina golfer to win two tournaments in the same season. During 2013-14, Coy achieved first place finishes at the Talamonti Shafts Invitational in October and the Schreiner Spring Shootout in March. Abigail Willcoxon ranks sixth on TAMUK’s career scoring average list and is in the top 10 all-time in birdies. Analysa Coy is only one spot behind Willcoxon in career stroke average and her 34 birdies in 2015-16 are the sixth-most in a single season by a Javelina. Jessica Sellers has also claimed spots the program’s all-time top 10s in scoring average and total birdies.
The selections for the all-decade team were made by members of the TAMUK athletic department in conjunction with Javelina women’s golf coach Stefanie Maynard. You can keep up with Javelina Golf all year long by following @JavelinaGolf on Twitter, @Javelinasports on Instagram, liking Javelina Sports on Facebook and visiting Javelinaathletics.com. Watch your Javelinas live today on the Javelina Sports Network sponsored by Mendoza’s Pharmacy.