ST. LOUIS, Mo. – Two former Redbird women's golf standouts: Katie Jean and Samantha Richdale, have been named to the Missouri Valley Conference Women's Golf 25-Year Team.
Jean, a native of Rantoul, Illinois, was a member of the golf program from 2010-2013. The 2013 MVC Golfer of the Year, Jean was also the MVC Elite 18 Award winner three times during her career. She earned three All-MVC honors, and was twice the medalist at the MVC Championships (2012 and 2013).
As a senior, Jean was named MVC Golfer of the Week five times, and had eight top-10 individual finishes, including two titles. In addition to her individual efforts, she helped lead the Redbirds to three MVC titles during her career.
Richdale, a native of Kelowna, British Columbia, was a member of the program from 2003-06. She was a four-time All-MVC honoree, and was a three-time MVC Championships medalist (2003, 2004, and 2006). She helped lead Illinois State to two MVC titles, and her career scoring average of 76.58 is an Illinois State school record. In 2005-06, her scoring average of 73.94 broke the MVC record, and stands as remains the second-lowest single-season scoring average in MVC history.
Over her career, Richdale was named MVC Golfer of the Week 17 times, the second-highest career total in MVC history. Individually she earned tournament medalist honors ten times over her career. As a sophomore she placed 57th at the NCAA Championships and competed in the NCAA Regionals three times.
Team composition for each 25-Year Team has been determined by a 25-person committee (two representatives from each MVC institution and a panel of five voters from the Conference office). The team composition includes years in which league teams competed under the MVC umbrella during the past 25 years (1992-2017) and does not include competition from the current season.
The Missouri Valley Conference was founded in 1907 and is the nation's second oldest Division I athletics conference. Women's sports were incorporated into the MVC in 1992, having previously competed under the Gateway Conference banner from 1982-92. In August 2017, the Conference announced its 2018 Hall of Fame Class, which featured three women (in the six-person class).A total of 22 women's athletes, coaches and pioneers have been honored by the MVC as part of the Hall.
For women's golf, a total of 34 student-athletes were nominated, and the voting panel determined a 'Top 10' from a list of 25 finalists.
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