Valparaiso University head women’s golf coach Jill McCoy has announced the addition of a pair of incoming freshmen for the 2019-2020 academic and athletic year. Kelsey Eichenauer (North Manchester, Ind. / Manchester) and Maddison Murphy (Bloomington, Ill. / University) have both signed to continue their golf careers with Valpo’s program.

Eichenauer was a regional qualifier in golf all four years of high school, won a 2016 sectional title and achieved all-conference honors during all four seasons. She was an individual medalist in 2017 and 2018, won the Huntington Individual in 2018 and captured conference and Wabash County championships in 2016, 2017 and 2018.

“Kelsey was very outgoing and outspoken through the recruiting process,” McCoy said. “She asked a lot of questions and knew exactly what she wanted. That personality trait spoke to me and made me think she’ll be a good leader of our team. She has a lot of energy and is very competitive. I see her as someone who is willing to come in and work extremely hard to help improve our program.”

Eichenauer also competes in tennis in high school and has been a regional qualifier and sectional champion in each of her first three seasons with her final tennis season still in progress. She has also won conference titles in tennis in each of her first three years.

“I’ve heard great things about the team and coach at Valpo,” Eichenauer said. “The chance to achieve the goal of playing Division-I golf is awesome. I pride myself on being a hard worker; I don’t give up on my goals. I hope to be a good teammate and have a positive influence on those around me at Valpo.”

Eichenauer plans to major in elementary education. She has thrived in the classroom in high school, earning girls golf academic all-state (2018), girls golf academic all-conference (2017, 2018) and girls tennis academic all-conference (2018, anticipated 2019) while serving as a member of a state-qualifying Science Olympiad team and as a member of National Honor Society.

Murphy is a four-year letter winner in golf who qualified for state as an individual her freshman year before leading her team to state in each of the next three seasons. She helped her team to the Corn Belt conference title as a sophomore while also winning the individual conference championship.

After leading her team to a seventh-place finish in the state championship as a sophomore with a seventh-place individual finish, Murphy lifted the squad to Central State 8 conference titles as a junior and senior, earning all-conference honors both years. She led her team in Top 10 finishes at the IHSA Class 2A State Championship as a junior and senior.

“Maddison is very athletic and very devoted to her golf game,” McCoy said. “She has a strong desire to play college golf, and that’s a really important trait to me as a coach. We want players who really want to be here, and this is a passion of hers. She also displays strong leadership ability and comes from a school where they have a lot of independence, which shows that she can motivate herself and her teammates.”

Murphy competed on the varsity dance team as a freshman and sophomore and placed in the Top 25 in the state championship both years. She maintained a perfect 4.0 grade point average, was a member of the Pioneer Chapter of the National Honor Society, was recognized as an Illinois state scholar and was recently named the valedictorian of her graduating class. She plans to enter the physician assistant program at Valpo.

“It’s always been my dream to compete at the Division-I level,” Murphy said. “Valpo is in close proximity to home and the school size is a good fit for me. Combining good academics with Division-I athletics made this an easy choice. Valpo is very unique because of the direct link from undergrad to the physician assistant program and the awesome opportunity to earn a master’s degree in five years. I’m really excited for my time at Valpo.”

Eichenauer and Murphy join fall signee Cailey Rooker (St. Joseph, Mich. / St. Joseph) to form the program’s incoming freshman class, McCoy’s first recruiting class as head coach.

“This is a special group to me as my first recruiting class,” McCoy said. “I’m extremely excited about bringing in this new talent to strengthen our program.”