Two of SEC’s biggest postseason honors go to LSU’s Lindblad, Runion

PHOTO BY: LSU athletics.

Less than 24 hours after advancing from the NCAA regionals to the NCAA Women’s Golf Championships, the LSU Tigers were honored in the announcement Thursday of the Southeastern Conference awards as selected by the league coaches.

Fourth-year LSU Coach Garrett Runion was named the SEC Co-Coach of the Year, while for the second time in her three-year career at LSU, Ingrid Lindblad has been named the SEC’s Player of the Year.

Lindblad was also named a member of the first-team All-SEC squad, while Carla Tejedo was named second team All-SEC. Elsa Svensson was named to the All-SEC Freshman team. Alden Wallace was LSU’s representative on the Community Service Team.

Runion shared the coaches honor with Kalen Anderson of South Carolina.

Runion led the Tigers to its first Southeastern Conference championship in 30 years this past April, defeating Vanderbilt, Alabama and Florida in the three matches to win the title. The former LSU player and assistant men’s coach will take LSU to its second consecutive NCAA Championships for the first time since the 2011 and 12 seasons.

The Tigers won three times this season – the Jackson T. Stephens Cup in Roland, Arkansas in the fall and the Clemson Invitational to go with the SEC Championship in the spring. The Tigers averaged 290.37 this season and players posted six wins and 18 top 10 finishes during the year.

The coaching honor is the first by the SEC for the LSU women’s program since former coach Karen Bahnsen was honored in 1995.

Lindblad has had an amazing season in which she became the school’s all-time winner with nine collegiate titles, including a win in the SEC Individual competition for the first time by an LSU player in 31 years. She has the most wins by an LSU golfer, male or female, in the last 40 years of the program.

The Swedish junior won five times — the Stephens Cup in the fall and then proceeded to dominate in the spring, winning The Moon Golf Invitational, the Clover Cup, the Clemson Invitational and the SEC Championship with a 38-foot eagle putt on the par 5 54th hole.

Lindblad has averaged 70.20 for 30 rounds this season, topping her own mark from 2020 for season average and posted 23 rounds of par or under. Her 23 career top 10 finishes are second all-time at LSU.

In winning the award for the second time, Lindblad becomes the first multiple recipient of the POY award in LSU golf history and it marks the fifth time since the program began in 1979 that an LSU player has won the league’s top honor.

Lindblad joins Jenny Lidback (1986), Kristi Coats (1991) and Madelene Sagstrom (2015) as previous LSU winners of the award.

Lindblad is the No. 2 ranked player in the World Amateur Golf Rankings and is No. 2 in the Golfstat performance rankings. She is a finalist for the ANNIKA award and is making her third consecutive appearance on the All-SEC first team.

She becomes the fifth LSU golfer to earn first-team All-SEC honors on three occasions joining Ashley Winn (1995, 1996, 1998), Meredith Duncan (2000, 2001, 2002), Megan McChrystal (2009, 2010, 2011) and Sagstrom (2013, 2014, 2015).

Sophomore Carla Tejedo earned her first SEC citation by being named to the second team after a strong campaign that saw her finish fourth in the NCAA Stanford regional with a score of 5-under par 208. Tejedo was credited with her first collegiate win when she tied Lindblad for the title at the Stephens Cup.

The native of Spain had 13 rounds of par or under and three top 10s on the year and averaged a solid 72.37 strokes per round as she improved her average over one full stroke from her freshman campaign of 2020-21.

Elsa Svensson had a solid freshman campaign for the Tigers, in averaging 75.04 for her 27 rounds, many contributing to the Tigers four-player score in various tournaments. Svensson’s year was topped by a low round of 68 in the Illini Women’s Invitational.

Wallace, a senior from Shreveport, was named to the women’s golf community service team, for her efforts with the team in school and community activities.

LSU will begin play on May 20 in the NCAA national championship tournament.

All-SEC Women’s Golf Awards

First Team All-SEC

Ingrid Lindblad, LSU

Polly Mack, Alabama

Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State

Kajal Mistry, Arkansas

Hannah Darling, South Carolina

Benedetta Moresco, Alabama

Chiara Tamburlini, Ole Miss

Blanca Fernández García-Poggio, Texas A&M

SECOND TEAM ALL-SEC

Megan Schofill, Auburn

Annabell Fuller, Florida

Maisie Filler, Florida

Anna Foster, Auburn

Mathilde Claisse, South Carolina

Louise Rydqvist, South Carolina

Carla Tejedo, LSU

Tai Anudit, South Carolina

PLAYER OF THE YEAR

Ingrid Lindblad, LSU

CO-COACHES OF THE YEAR

Garrett Runion, LSU

Kaylen Anderson, South Carolina

SCHOLAR-ATHLETE OF THE YEAR

Benedetta Moresco, Alabama

FRESHMAN OF THE YEAR

Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State

ALL-FRESHMAN TEAM

Louise Rydqvist, South Carolina

Hannah Darling, South Carolina

Elsa Svensson, LSU

Julia Lopez Ramirez, Mississippi State

Adela Cernousek, Texas A&M

Natacha Host Husted, Ole Miss

Isabella van der Biest, Alabama

Bailey Davis, Tennessee

Natasha Kiel, Vanderbilt

LoraLie Cowart, Georgia

COMMUNITY SERVICE TEAM

Carolina Caminoli, Alabama

Ela Anacona, Arkansas

Ashley-Sinclair, Auburn

Clara Manzalini, Florida

Caroline Craig, Georgia

Laney Frye, Kentucky

Alden Wallace, LSU

Ellen Hutchinson-Kay, Ole Miss

Abbey Daniel, Mississippi State

Noelle Beijer, Missouri

Louise Rydqvist, South Carolina

Mikayla Bardwell, Tennessee

Brooke Tyree, Texas A&M

Jayna Choi, Vanderbilt

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