NORTHFIELD, Minn. – For the 14th consecutive season, the Carleton College women’s golf team finds itself listed among the top program’s in the country. The Knights are listed at No. 11 in the initial Women’s Golf Coaches Association (WGCA) national rankings for the 2021 season.
This 14-season run of rankings began midway through the 2007-08 campaign. Since then, the Knights have been ranked as high as No. 1 on seven occasions.
Despite not participating in intercollegiate competition during the fall 2020 portion of this season due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Carleton is still the top-ranked MIAC team entering the spring, ahead of Bethel University—which is tied for No. 16—and No. 21 St. Catherine University.
Carnegie Mellon University owns the top spot in the WGCA rankings with Methodist University and Washington University in St. Louis rounding out the top three spots.
Second-year coach Matt Stangl ’02 guides a Carleton program that finished first or second at 4 of 5 tournaments played during the pandemic shortened 2019-20 season.
“With a strong returning team and the addition of two first-years, we are excited to showcase our talent and represent Carleton as the No. 11-ranked team in D3 women’s golf,” said Stangl. “We had a fun and productive fall season, despite no competitions. The winter season has been more of the same, as we just had to move indoors to our golf room. Strength training has been key to our fall and winter training, too. Should we get the green light to participate in the spring season, we will be ready to go!”
The Carleton lineup includes All-American Kristin Miyagi (Jr./Honolulu, Hawaii/’Iolani School), who was No. 14 in the Golfstat individual national rankings last year after posting a 76.39 adjusted scoring average and finished atop the leaderboard at two events during the fall 2019 season. She owned the squad’s third-lowest score at the 2019 NCAA Championships.
Alexis Chan (Sr./Highlands Ranch, Colo./Rock Canyon) is Carleton’s other top returner. She earned All-MIAC recognition each of her first two seasons and was Carleton’s second-lowest scorer at the 2018 NCAA Championships. She missed the 2019 national tournament due to injury and did not play last fall due to participation in an off-campus study program in South Africa.
Andie Nakahira (Sr./Torrance, Calif./Vistamar School) is the other senior on the roster, while juniors Ananya Shah (Jr./Maple Grove, Minn./Wayzata) and Allison Drennan (Mt. Pleasant, S.C./Ashley Hall) provide additional veteran leadership. Shah was in the lineup for each of the Knights’ tournaments during the 2019-20 campaign. Newcomers Taylor Kang (Fy./Pleasanton, Calif./The King’s Academy PSP) and Alyssa Soma (Fy./Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) joined the Knights this past fall.