NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Vanderbilt sophomore standout Auston Kim earned second team All-Southeastern Conference recognition from the league’s head coaches Thursday.
Commodore senior Abbey Carlson, an All-SEC performer for the last three years, was named to the SEC’s community service team.
Kim and Carlson, along with their Vanderbilt teammates, missed a chance to repeat as NCAA regional champions this spring when intercollegiate sports across the nation were canceled in March due to the spread of COVID-19. One year ago, the duo guided the Commodores to the program’s third NCAA regional crown with Kim claiming the individual trophy at Saugahatchee Country Club in Opelika, Alabama.
The coaches’ ballot was a disappointment for a program that ranked among the nation’s best for much of the fall and early-spring campaign. After opening the season with a runaway victory at the Cougar Classic in South Carolina and runner-up finish at the Mason Rudolph Championships in Franklin, the Commodores didn’t threaten for a team title in their last four tournaments.
Their chance to rebound at the Clemson Invitational, SEC Championships and NCAA postseason play never materialized.
Head coach Greg Allen, the 2018-19 SEC Coach of the Year, was pleased for Kim, but thought more Commodores deserved All-SEC consideration.
“I’m so proud of Auston and everything she has accomplished in two short years, but I also thought others on our team, including Lou (Louise Yu) and Abbey, were deserving of All-SEC recognition,” Allen said. “The league was really strong this year and had a lot of really great players. We’ll celebrate Auston and look forward to having more players recognized next year.”
A first team All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman recipient last May, Kim opened her sophomore year in sensational fashion. She established a 54-hole school record by shooting 200 (65-69-66) to win medalist honors at the Cougar Classic held outside Charleston, South Carolina.
The early victory quickly moved the St. Augustine, Florida, player into early ANNIKA Award consideration, but Kim could not duplicate the winning effort in the remaining five tournaments. Her best finishes were a tie for sixth place at the Windy City Collegiate Classic outside Chicago and a 10th-place tie at the Darius Rucker at Hilton Head, South Carolina.
A participant in the U.S. Women’s Open and U.S. Women’s Amateur last summer, Kim finished the 2019-20 season with a 72.44 scoring average in 18 rounds. She recently earned honorable mention All-America recognition by Golfweek.
For the second consecutive year, Carlson, from Lake Mary, Florida, was recognized by the SEC for her community service involvement.
The engineering major accumulated more than 55 hours of community service in the 2019-20 school year. She was involved in Vanderbilt Athletics’ field day, holiday party and trick-or-treat event for students at Buena Vista Elementary School in inner-city Nashville, assisted the team’s Dancing Dores fundraising effort by co-hosting a miracle family dinner, helped with Theta Tau’s clothing and sleeping mat drive, served dinner to homeless residents at the Nashville Rescue Mission, volunteered at the Ryan Seacrest Studio at Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital at Vanderbilt and served as an outreach teacher in local schools for the Vanderbilt Aerospace Design Lab.
