UTEP women’s golfer named 1st team All-CUSA

EL PASO, Texas -- UTEP women’s golfer Valeria Mendizabal capped off a history-making season by being named to the first team of the All-Conference USA golf team.

The league made the announcement Wednesday.

Mendizabal is the first Miner to earn first-team accolades since Camino Sardinero in 2015.

This past season, Mendizabal ranked first in Conference USA after compiling a career-best 71.6 stroke average in 20 rounds.

The junior shot a career-low 65 in the second round of the Little Rock Classic to help clinch first place individually after shooting 8-under par with a score of 208 (71-65-72).

Her second-round 65 fired in Little Rock marked the best in the event’s history and broke UTEP’s single-round scoring record.

Her total of 208 at the Little Rock Classic was also the second-lowest individual score in tournament history.

She was UTEP’s top finisher six out of seven times, including two first-place finishes on the year.

She finished in the top 10 in every tournament during the fall and once during the spring before the season was cut short. The junior also earned C-USA Golfer of the Week honors three times during the season.

Mendizabal never shot worse than 75 in a single round throughout the course of the year and she became the first Miner to win multiple tournaments in a season since the 2006-07 campaign.

Mendizabal also brought home first place in the 2019 fall opener after shooting 1-under par with a 212 (69-75-68) at the MSU/Payne Stewart Memorial.