The USA South Athletic Conference has announced its 2026 All-Conference awards for women's golf. Individually, Southern Virginia's Sydney Richards was named Golfer of the Year, Piedmont's Lila Polakowski collected Rookie of the Year, and Huntingdon's Katelyn Gilmore grabbed Coach of the Year. Also, the USA South recognized an All-Sportsmanship Team, consisting of one member from each competing school.

All awards, with the exception of the Coach of the Year, are determined by the national rankings as accumulated by Clippd, the official ranking service of the NCAA, from Wednesday, April 15, 2026. The maximum all-conference honoree allotment per team is five players and those nominees must have participated in at least half of the team's events throughout the entire academic year. The coach of the year was determined by a vote of the USA South women's golf coaches.

Richards, a junior from Farmington, Utah, becomes the first Knight golfer to earn USA South Women's Golfer of the Year accolades. Richards is currently the 17th-ranked player in Division III according to Clippd, averaging a USA South-best 73.9 in 14 rounds of play. In seven events, Richards has recorded seven rounds of par or better with six top-five finishes and three individual titles. For her efforts, Richards earned All-Conference honors for the third consecutive season, two straight first-team nods, and was named USA South Golfer of the Week four times.

Polakowski, a freshman from Canton, Michigan, becomes the second Lion golfer to be named USA South Women's Golf Rookie of the Year (Erin Donovan, 2023). Polakowski averaged 83.1 per round through seven events played during the regular season. Polakowski's best showing this season was at the Savannah Invitational where she shot a 12-over par 158 in the two-day event. Finally, Polakowski earned USA South Rookie Golfer of the Week on three occasions.

Gilmore, in her second year at the helm of Huntingdon, has been named USA South Women's Golf Coach of the Year for the second consecutive season. Gilmore has guided the Hawks to a national ranking of 25th, according to Clippd, thanks to a League-best scoring average of 312.7 in 18 rounds this season. Huntingdon has finished in the top-five five times in the eight events the team competed in. Gilmore's defending USA South Tournament Champion Hawks will look to make it two in a row next week.
 

Player of the Year	Rookie of the Year	Coach of the Year
Sydney Richards Southern Virginia	Lila Polakowski Piedmont	Katelyn Gilmore Huntingdon

The 2026 USA South Women's Golf All-Conference Team:
 

First Team All-Conference	Second Team All-Conference
Mary Charles Davis, Huntingdon Erin Donovan, Piedmont Yvette Gorden, Huntingdon Sydney Richards, Southern Virginia Briana Willis, Huntingdon	Eva Denten, Methodist Keegan Goins, Piedmont Kirstyn Page, Pfeiffer Cloe Rich, Methodist Jenna Rutledge, Methodist

 

All-Sportsmanship

Lacie Logan, Huntingdon Emma McCoy, LaGrange Lainey Edwards, Meredith Paige Wilkinson, Methodist Morgan Heilig, Pfeiffer Lila Polakowski, Piedmont Halle Western, Southern Virginia Morghan Knight, William Peace