PORTLAND, Ore. – Capping their Montana State University Billings careers by earning all-Great Northwest Athletic Conference recognition, women's golf seniors Kinsey Irvin and Tierney Messmer were each named to the second team for the 2021-22 season announced by the conference office on Friday.
 
Irvin led the team with a scoring average of 80.16 strokes per round, while competing in all 19 rounds over the team's nine events. Irvin started her final season with a bang, winning the South Dakota Mines Hardrocker Invitational on Sept. 21. At the RJGA Palm Valley Classic on April 1, Irvin shot a career-low score of 1-under-par 71 as she tied the second-lowest single-round score in MSUB history.
 
Overall in her career, Irvin competed in 30 events and 61 rounds, with her scoring average of 82.75 ranking 10th in school history. She finished the year ranking eighth in the GNAC in scoring average for the 2021-22 season. "Kinsey put together her finest season as a 'Jacket golfer this year," said MSUB head coach Adam Buie. "Her accomplishments this year are impressive considering the schedule we played and the large number of competitors we faced in these fields. Just like Tierney, Kinsey also is a super leader and role model as a captain of our squad. Kinsey is a fighter on the golf course and always plays hard and that is what I love about her the most. The first round of the GNAC Championship, she made two big scores early, and fought back to make 12 pars in a row at Coeur d'Alene. We knew we could count on her no matter what, to battle and post a solid score."
 
Messmer earned second-team honors for the second straight season, after ranking second on the team and 12th in the GNAC with a scoring average of 81.5 strokes per round. Like Irvin, Messmer competed in all nine events and all 19 rounds in her final season, while posting a pair of top-10 finishes and one top-five finish. Messmer saved her best round for last, finishing the GNAC Championships with a 77 to lead the Yellowjackets with a seventh-place finish at the event.
 
Messmer finished seventh in MSUB history with a career scoring average of 82.15 strokes per round, while competing in 30 events and playing 59 total rounds in her four years with the 'Jackets. "Tierney was very consistent all year and we knew we were going to get a solid score out of her," said Buie. "We played a difficult course schedule this year and their scoring averages are a little misleading. The one thing that really stood out in Tierney's season this year was how she almost always did better the last round and would improve her score and position from the first day. She always brings a good attitude and determination as well as her great leadership she provides as a team captain."
 
Megan Billeter of Western Washington University and Shirin Anjarwalla of Simon Fraser University shared the GNAC Player of the Year award, while WWU's Luke Bennett was named GNAC Coach of the Year and SFU's Natasha Kozlowski was picked as the GNAC Newcomer of the Year. Christine Cho of Northwest Nazarene University was picked as the GNAC Freshman of the Year.