Fitts earns GOTY, Tigers place three on All-GPAC Team

MITCHELL, S.D. – For the fourth straight season, senior women's golfer Lauren Fitts has been named the Great Plains Athletic Conference Golfer of the Year, it was announced by the league Wednesday, making the Brookings, S.D., native just the second GPAC athlete in any sport to ever win such an award four times.

The Dakota Wesleyan University women's golf team held off a trio of challengers to the GPAC title, taking the conference championship by three strokes with the final round at the Tigers' home course at Wild Oak. The title was the eighth straight for DWU and 13^th in the last 14 years, sending the Tigers to the NAIA National Championships, which is ongoing in Savannah, Ga.

Fitts joined former Tiger golf great Dani Bellet as the only GPAC athlete to win the award four times, giving DWU the last eight GPAC women's golf medalists. Fitts was also named to the GPAC Women's Golf All-Conference Team for the fourth time.

Junior April Barnett (Lakeview, Texas), who is playing in her final tournament at the NAIA Championships after graduating early, was also named to the All-Conference Team for the third straight season after leading DWU in the final round of the GPAC Championships. Barnett had the best score of the day, a 76, in the round hosted at Wild Oak. Barnett was one of just two golfers in the field to shoot a lower score on the back nine than on the front.

For the first time in her career, senior Taylor Anshutz (Gregory, S.D.) was named to the All-Conference Team. Anshutz helped lead a small group of Tigers to another title and finished the GPAC season in a tie for 13^th place.

The Tigers continue play at the NAIA Championships, which had play suspended in the first round Tuesday.