Nighthawks snag national honors

Following a historic spring sports season, the University of North Georgia's (UNG) coaches and student-athletes continue to pull in national recognitions. The honors are pouring in after a spring in which all six teams that have national rankings were in the top 25 of their respective sports at some point during their seasons.

The Golf Coaches Association of America (GCAA) announced men's golf head coach Bryson Worley as the 2023-24 NCAA Division II Dave Williams National Coach of the Year presented by Golf Pride Grips. Worley led his team to a national runner-up finish in Winter Garden, Florida, in May. UNG men's golfers Will Chambless and Jack Vajda also earned PING First-Team All-American honors from the GCAA.

Noah Zediker was named a second-team All-American, and Hughes Threlkeld was an honorable mention All-American.

Worley is a three-time Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Coach of the Year and the only coach in conference history to win the award in three consecutive seasons. Last year, he was a finalist for the Dave Williams National Coach of the Year award before winning the honor this year. 

In addition to being national runner-up, Worley's program also scored its first PBC championship this spring.

During the 2023-24 season, the Nighthawks played in 12 tournaments and scored a program-record six victories and finished third or better in 11 of them. As a team, UNG ranked No. 1 in the nation in the GCAA Bushnell/Golfweek Coaches poll for nearly 40 consecutive weeks during the season. The Nighthawks also held the top spot in the Scoreboard powered by Clippd National Rankings for the entirety of the 2023-24 season.

UNG was one of only two teams in the entire country with four All-Americans for 2024. 

Chambless, a Macon, Georgia, native, finished in the top 10 four times, three of which were top-five finishes. At the GCSU Bobcat Invitational, he guided UNG to a tied for second finish while earning individual medalist honors as the solo winner of the event. In the NCAA championship semifinal match against West Texas A&M, Chambless finished his round with back-to-back birdies to lift the Nighthawks into the championship match. 

For Vajda, who hails from Canton, Georgia, recorded seven top-10 finishes, including individual victories at the Tennessee River Rumble, PBC championship and NCAA South/Southeast Regional. Vajda was also one of five finalists nationwide for the NCAA Division II Jack Nicklaus Award.

Zediker, a 2023-24 PBC All-Conference First Team golfer, won the McCoy Wright Currahee Intercollegiate in the fall with a score of 9-under-par. It was one of his five top-10 finishes. After not participating in many spring competitions, Zediker rose to the occasion in the NCAA championship tournament. The senior from Panama City, Florida, won two of his three matches and tied in a third. The tie, which came in the national semifinals, helped secure UNG's spot in the championship match. 

Threlkeld, who is from Savannah, Georgia, went 2-1 in NCAA championship match play with his biggest win coming in the semifinals. After trailing West Texas A&M's Jorge De La Concepcion for 14 holes, Threlkeld snatched his first lead of the match at the 16th hole and hung on to a one-shot margin that helped UNG reached the championship match. Threlkeld played in more rounds this season than any other Nighthawk golfer. He averaged 72.29 strokes over 38 rounds and finished in the top 10 twice.

In tennis, Justin Miles was the named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Assistant Coach of the Year for his efforts with UNG's women's team, which reached the Final Four, and the men's team, which reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Women's tennis player Angelina Linnikova earned ITA All-American honors.

Linnikova, who is from Irkutsk, Russia, became the fifth All-American in program history and the third in the last three years for UNG. She's the first singles All-American since Adrienne Bofinger was selected in 2019.

The junior went 22-4 in singles play, tying the most wins in a single season in program history. Her .846 winning percentage ranks third in UNG history. She helped UNG set a program record with 25 team victories and its deepest postseason run ever.

Despite being a junior, Linnikova has only competed in the last two seasons for the Nighthawks. Still she's already racked up 38 total wins, which slots her at fourth all-time in program history. 

She went 3-2 against ITA nationally ranked opponents. That mark helped her climb as high as No. 6 in the ITA women's singles rankings, which is the highest ranking an individual has ever earned in program history.

UNG's softball team also earned multiple national honors.

Senior pitcher Tybee Denton was named an National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) second team All-American, while her battery mate in senior catcher Georgia Blair was named a third-team All-American. Denton also earned second-team D2CCA All-American honors. 

The two honors this year give UNG a total of 54 NFCA All-Americans under 24-year head coach Mike Davenport. The Nighthawks have had at least one player earn All-America honors in three of the last four seasons. 

In the regular season, Denton led the PBC in eight different statistical categories. Nationally, she ranked in the top 25 in five different categories including strikeouts, hits allowed per seven innings, shutouts, and wins. 

For Blair, she dominated the offensive categories for UNG, leading the team this season in batting average, slugging percentage, on-base plus slugging, hits, runs, RBI, doubles, home runs, and total bases. 

She led the PBC in total bases in the regular season while ranking third or better in five other categories including home runs, RBI and slugging percentage.