CCAC women's golf awards

Amara Lytle and Katherine Speer were each named second team all-conference as the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference (CCAC) announced its postseason women's golf awards. It marks the second straight year St. Ambrose has had two players named to the all-conference team.

Lytle, last season's CCAC Freshman of the Year, is averaging a team-best 85.53 over 17 rounds this year. She has posted five top-10 finishes and was the individual medalist at the CCAC Fall Preview Cup by shooting a 4-over 76 at Cinder Ridge Golf Course in Wilmington, Ill., on Oct. 10. That was one of three sub-80 rounds for the sophomore from Cedar Falls, Iowa.

Lytle, a first team all-conference selection a year ago, posted back-to-back 79s to finish seventh with a 158 at the Highland Classic Sept. 2-3. She followed that up with a ninth-place showing at the Klocke Family Classic Sept. 10-11. She earned 10th-place finishes at the Bill Johnson Fall Invite Sept. 16-17 and in the team's most recent event, the Viking Invitational at Highland Springs in Rock Island, Ill., Apr. 28-29.

Speer has played her best golf down the stretch this spring. The junior from Omaha, Neb., held the 18-hole lead at the CCAC Championships at TPC Deere Run in Silvis, Ill., before settling for third place in the conference tournament played Apr. 17-18. She then fired her two best collegiate rounds, a 79 and a 75, to tie for second with a 154 at the Viking Invitational.

Those are two of five top-10 efforts for Speer. She took seventh at the Klocke Family Classic and Bill Johnson Fall Invite and was ninth at the CCAC Fall Preview Cup on Oct. 10. She is second on the team with an 86.71 scoring average over 17 rounds.

After helping St. Ambrose to a runner-up finish at the CCAC Championships, Lytle and Speer will lead the Bees into the NAIA Championships at TPC Deere Run May 23-26.