SUWANEE, Ga. -- LeTourneau men's golf freshman Rafa Torres was named the SCAC First-Year Player of the Year and head coach J. Paul Leslie III earned Coach of the Year honors, as the conference announced its annual major awards for the sport on Monday.

Torres becomes the first YellowJacket to garner a conference first-year, freshman, or newcomer of the year award. It is the second time Leslie has collected a conference coach of the year honor (2023, ASC).

The awards, encompassing the entire season, were voted on by the league's head coaches and sports information directors.

A freshman from Madrid, Spain, Torres was one of the top players for the YellowJackets throughout the season. He ranked fourth on the team in scoring average at 73.96 across 24.5 rounds -- setting a freshman program record -- and earned All-SCAC first team honors after placing in a tie for second at the SCAC Championships. Torres had three top-10 finishes, including a season-opening medalist honor at the Energy Weldfab Tempest Intercollegiate where he shot a 7-under, 209 and won in a playoff. That victory then garnered him SCAC Golfer of the Week honors. Torres also ranked fourth on the team with 10 rounds of par or betters on the year.

Torres paced the YellowJackets to a SCAC championship as he finished in a tie for second overall to collect All-SCAC first team accolades. He finished with a 1-under, 179 and was just one stroke behind the individual champion. At the NCAA Division III Championships, Torres finished in a tie for 55th with a 9-over, 296 in the 72-hole tournament.

In his eighth year leading the program, Leslie earned his second career conference coach of the year honor. LeTourneau won its second conference championship in three years, but the first as a member of the SCAC, and advanced to the NCAA Division III Championships for a fourth straight season. At nationals, LeTourneau established a program record by finishing 12th in the 43-team field. LeTourneau ranked inside the top-30 nationally the entire season and finished at No. 14 in the Scoreboard/Clippd rankings -- the second-highest final ranking in program history.

Under Leslie's leadership, LeTourneau had five players earn All-SCAC honors. The YellowJackets had five different players earn SCAC Golfer of the Week during the year. For a fourth straight year, the YellowJackets set a program record for team scoring average, finishing at 291.96. LeTourneau collected five team titles on the year, the most in the program's history, and marked 16 tournament wins for the program since the start of the 2022-23 season.

Torres and Leslie took two of the three SCAC major awards, joining Oliver Naumann from Hendrix who was named the conference's Golfer of the Year.

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