CCIW Release

NAPERVILLE, Ill. - Illinois Wesleyan University senior women's golfer Emma Thorman (Macomb, Ill.-Macomb) was voted the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Women's Golfer of the Year with freshman Emily Gastrau (Wauwatosa, Wis.-Wauwatosa East) garnering CCIW Newcomer of the Year, the league office announced Thursday, May 9. Thorman and Gastrau are the inaugural winners of the awards, while Head Coach Patrick Freeman was named the CCIW Coach of the Year for the sixth time in his career.

Thorman is amid a sensational senior season in which she captured the CCIW Championship with a program record 54-hole score of 218 (74-74-70), Oct. 5-7. The Macomb, Ill. native has played 22.5 rounds on the season to date, averaging a career-best and conference-best 75.2 strokes per round. Thorman has tallied seven top-10 finishes, with five top-five placements. Additionally, she was selected as the CCIW's Women's Golfer of the Week twice throughout the season. 

In her first season of collegiate golf, Gastrau compiled a stroke average of 80.5 over 16 rounds. She posted two top-10 finishes and placed in the top-20 three times. The Wauwatosa, Wis. native posted seven rounds of 80-or-better and turned in a career-best score of two-over 74 at the IWU Fall Classic, Sept. 17.

Freeman has guided IWU to one of its best seasons in program history, as the Titans head into this month's NCAA Division III National Championship ranked seventh nationally. The Green and White has won four varsity tournaments over the course of the year, topping the field at the CCIW Championship, WashU Spring Invitational, Kathy Niepagen Spring Fling, and UW-Whitewater Spring Fling. IWU also added runner-up finishes at the Mad Dawg Invite and IWU Fall Classic, while Illinois Wesleyan's 'B' team grabbed a win at the Dechert Classic.

In all, a Titan has been named the CCIW's Women's Golfer of the Week five times this season. Thorman was a two-time honoree, while Macy Ludwig garnered it in back-to-back weeks, April 17-24, and Lexi Onsrud snagged the accolade April 10. Additionally, under Freeman's guidance this season IWU has set the program's 18-hole, 36-hole, and 54-hole team scoring records. The single round record stands at even par, while the 36-hole mark came at the Kathy Niepagen Spring Fling, April 13-14, where IWU posted a five-over 581. 

Illinois Wesleyan's 54-hole total of 886 en route to winning the CCIW Championship not only broke the program record, but set the conference record as well. 

As the CCIW Champions, the Titans garnered an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Championship set for May 21-24 in Nicholasville, Ky. 

CCIW Student-Athlete of the Year
Emma Thorman, Illinois Wesleyan

CCIW First-Year Student-Athlete of the Year
Emily Gastrau, Illinois Wesleyan

CCIW Coach of the Year
Patrick Freeman, Illinois Wesleyan