Emma Bunch highlights trio of Aggies among All-Conference USA honorees
(Courtesy: NMSU Athletics)
DALLAS, Texas - With the Conference USA Championships wrapping up two weeks ago, the league office announced its complete list of all-conference honorees on Thursday morning.
After winning the individual title, Emma Bunch was named the CUSA Player of the Year while also hauling in CUSA Most Improved Player and First Team All-CUSA honors.
Additionally, Alison Gastelum earned Second Team All-CUSA recognition while Isa Laulhé picked up Third Team All-CUSA acknowledgment.
To the surprise of no one, Emma Bunch, a sophomore from Lynge, Denmark, was named the league’s most outstanding player after winning each of the five tournaments that the Aggies competed in this spring.
During the 2023-24 season, Bunch played in 30 total rounds and finished with an average 18-hole score of 69.7 to watch her scoring average reduce by 4.6 strokes per round when compared to her freshman campaign.
Bunch tallied five first-place finishes and nine top-10 finishes while finishing inside the top 25 in all 10 tournaments that she competed in this year.
Most recently, Bunch won her fifth-straight tournament as she shot 7-under at the CUSA Championships to claim the low score among individuals.
She was also crowned the individual champion at the GCU Invitational, the UNF Collegiate, the PING/ASU Invitational and the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic.
She faced what was likely her toughest competition at the PING/ASU Invitational where she and the Aggies competed alongside players from 14 Power Five rograms.
There, Bunch finished tied for first with the then-14th ranked collegiate golfer in the country.
Bunch has also finished as the Aggies’ top individual in eight of their 10 tournaments this season and recently became the program’s first-ever Arnold Palmer Cup selection.
Bunch will also represent the Aggies in the upcoming NCAA Regional in Cle Elum, Wash., which is set to be played May 6-8 at Tumble Creek Club.
Alison Gastelum, a senior from Chihuahua, Mexico, secured her spot on the All-CUSA Second Team to earn the third all-conference selection of her impressive Aggie career.
Gastelum served as one of the team’s leaders on and off the course this season and ranked second in scoring average among Aggies this season – finishing with a 18-hole average score of 73.2 across 30 rounds of play.
In total, Gastelum secured one win, four top-10 finishes and five top-25 finishes this season.
In her last outing, she clinched a spot on the CUSA All-Tournament Team after finishing 2-under-par for the tournament to end in a tie for fourth at High Meadow Ranch Golf Club in Magnolia, Texas.
Gastelum’s season was highlighted by her performance at the Golfweek Red Sky Classic on Sept. 25-27 when she posted scores of 71-70-68 to fight her way to the top of the individual leaderboard.
She was also instrumental in the Aggies’ team win at the GCU Invitational where she shot 6-under-par to finish eighth among individuals and second among Aggies.
Isa Laulhé was the third Aggie representative on the all-conference lists as she was voted to the All-CUSA Third Team following a strong sophomore season.
The native of Buenos Aires, Argentina, participated in 21 rounds for NM State this season and finished the year with an average score of 74.0 to rank third among Aggies.
Laulhé closed out her year with a pair of top-25 finishes, including a T-14 finish at the Wyoming Cowgirl Classic in Maricopa, Ariz.
This came one week before the CUSA Championships where she equaled her lowest-scoring round in the first round of the tournament.
Laulhé also made a massive jump from her freshman to her sophomore seasons as she improved her average score by 7.3 strokes per 18 holes (81.3 to 74.0).
With the 2023-24 season representing the Aggies’ first season as members of Conference USA, Bunch, Gastelum and Laulhé become the first players in program history to garner all-conference honors from the new league.
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